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THE ILLUSTRATED 

STOCK DOCTOR 

AND LIVE-STOCK ENCYCLOPEDIA. 

INXLUDING 

HORSES, CATTLE, SHEEP, SWINE and POULTRY,' 

WITH ALL THE 

FACTS CONCERNING THE VARIOUS BREEDS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, BREAKING 
TRAINING, SHELTERING, BUYING, SELLING, PROFITABLE USE, AND GENERAL CARE, 

AND ALL DISEASES TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT THE CAUSES, HOW TO 

KNOW, AND WHAT TO DO; GIVEN IN PLAIN, SIMPLE LANGUAGE, FREE 

FROM TECHNICALITIES, BUT SCIENTIFICALLY CORRECT, AND WITH 

DIRECTIONS THAT ARE EASILY UNDERSTOOD, EASILY APPLIED, 

AND REMEDIES THAT ARE WITHIN REACH OF THE PEOPLE. 

also', the RECENT, APPROVED, HUMANE METHODS 

FOR THE PRESERVATION AND CARE OF STOCK, 

THE PREVENTION OF ANY DISEASE, AND 

RESTORATION OF HEALTH. 



C^EFULLY PREPARED, AFTER A RIPE EXPERIENCE OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN STOCK-RAISING 
AND AN EXTENSIVE PRACTICE IN VETERINARY SURGERV, 

\ By J. RUSSELL MANNING, M. D., V^-d.'^^> 
. -■? > f <; !<k - 7 

TO WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED , ..U.^-TnTTi v ^ 

A COMPLETE HISTORY of BEES, 

SIVING THE LA F.ST AND MOST APPROVED METHODS AND SYSTEM OF BEE CULTURE AS PERFECTED 

AND PRACTICED BY D. A. JONES, THE RENOWNED BEE-KING OF BEETON, ONTARIO. 

ALSO A VALUABLE TREATISE ON DOGS, CONTAINING THEIR HISTORY, 

BREEDS, TRAINING, DISEASF.S, AND ESPECIALLY GIVING 

A SURE PREVENTIVE OF HYDROPHOBIA. 



OVEE 400 ILLUSTRATIONS, INOLUDIHG STEELS, CHROMOS AND WOOD OUTS. 



PUBLISHED BY ^"\, 

HUBBARD BROS., Philadelphia; ^ 

Bo.sToN ; Chicago; Cincinnati; Atlanta; and Kansa.s City 
A. L. BANCROFT & CO., San Francisco, Cal. 



'A, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, 



S 






^/? 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



It is with especial pleasure and pride that the publishers present to the 
public this volume. They believe that in design, extent, variety of 
matter and illustration, especial adaptability to the wants of the farmer 
and stock owner, and in its explicit and practical teachings, it has not been 
equalled in the history of American agricultural publications. No author 
has to the same extent carried into effect in this department of literature 
the modern and popular idea of '■^ object teaching." And in no depart- 
ment of literature is such teaching so useful and practical in character. 
With our author it has not been enough to describe ; but he illustrates — 
teaching through the eye as well as by word, and with a deiiniteness in 
both respects that will enable any one, by proper study, however unfa- 
miliar with the subjects of which it treats, to become well versed in all 
the essentials of a practical knowledge of the use, care, diseases and 
treatment of domestic animals. Though the book is large, the system of 
the arrangement is so perfect that any fact in its contents can be readily 
found, and this constitutes it a most convenient work for ready reference 
as well as for general study. The illustrations, covering the subjects of 
breeds, characteristics, points, character, and the various stages of dis- 
eases, etc., are exhaustive, while the elaborate charts, so minutely 
illustrating: the asres of the horse and cow, are decided features and most 
useful as well as novel. 

The author's, careful education in the profession of Veterinary Medicine, 

his large practice, and his experience in the general care and management 

of live stock, have eminently qualified him for the task he has undertaken, 

and we place the result of his labor before the public, believing that he 

has done his work well — that he has produced a book that will be of most 

practical and pecuniary value to every stock-owner. Believing this, the 

book is launched upon the sea of agricultural literature with the confident 

belief that it is demanded and that it will accomplish its mission of 

usefulness. 

iii 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The author's object in writing the following book was to impart 
such practical information to the American farmer and stock-owner, 
as will lead to a much needed and beneficial reform in the breeding, 
care and general treatment of domestic animals ; to offer such informa- 
tion in practical shape as will enable him to realize a greater benefit 
from live stock in health, and familiarize him with the causes that 
produce diseases, that he may avoid them ; and also to give such facts that 
he may know the nature of a disorder when it exists, as well as the proper 
remedies to apply. 

In the suggestions offered we have kept steadily in view the necessity of 
simplicity in describing disease, and of prescribing those remedies that the 
ordinary farmer can without difficulty procure and easily administer. In 
a practice of twenty-five years in country districts, among the agricultu- 
ral classes, we believe we have learned to know their wants in this respect, 
and this volume is an earnest effort to meet them. It has always been a 
matter of surprise that such a work for farmers and small stock-owners — 
simple in style and diction, yet scientifically exact, covering the entire 
subject of domestic animals — has never been prepared ; yet we believe 
we sj^eak within the facts in saying that our agricultural literature has to 
the present time been without a volume fulfilling these requisites. 

The effort has been to produce a systematic work, accessible to the 
farmer, giving the known facts and principles of the art of handling, 
improving, breeding, care and management of domestic animals in health, 
the causes which produce disease, and how to avoid them ; how to know 
disease, and what to do. In short, to produce such a work as will serve 
as a valuable hand-book, both for study and for constant reference for 
the farmer, and which will enable him to turn the industry of stock- 
breeding, raising, buying and selling to greater profit. 
iv 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. V 

In what we have said concerning the characteristics, excellences and 
defects of the various breeds of live stock (and in this we have tried to 
be full, explicit and exact), we have not been biased by partiality for any, 
and have studiously avoided expressing any preference, when the facts, 
obtained by long familiarity Avith the subjects, and much reading and ob- 
servation, did not clearly sustain the position taken. 

The book is not in any sense in the interest of any breed or breeds, 
and even less is it in the interest of any class of breeders or importers. 
In these things the interests of truth and the reader have been the inliu- 
ences that controlled. There is no advertisement in its pages. 

If in the directions given throughout the work we have subjected our- 
selves to the charge of making a hobby of careful and tender treatment 
of animals, we reply that a long experience, and the observations of a 
life-time, have very strongly impressed us that not only humanity but 
economy is best served by kindness, and if the influence of this book shall 
lead to a more general study of the comfort of domestic animals, we will 
feel that w^e have served the financial interest of the breeder in an equal 
proportion to the welfare of the animals. 

One of the facts that has always forcibly impressed us is, that among 
horse owners, and even those long familiar with horses, there are so few 
good judges of a horse. The different developments of the horse for the 
different purposes for wdiich horses are used, seem to be little under- 
stood, yet it is susceptible of very accurate knowledge, and in the ap- 
propriate places in these pages, we have, by careful analysis of the jjoints 
of the horse, and very copious illustrations, given facts that will enable 
any one to readily determine a horse's approjDriate uses and his value. 
In this is included the very extensive chart for telling the age, and also 
the easy directions for ascertaining vices and unsoundness. 

With the other domestic animals like information is given and with 
equal plainness. With these facts before him, so explicitly stated and so 
exhaustively illustrated, any one can soon learn to buy to advantage. We 
have endeavored to guard the unsuspecting against the arts of the jockey, 
and to point out so plainly the difference between an elegant and common 
horse, a good and bad one, a sound and unsound one, an old and a young 
one, a vicious, dangerous horse, and a kind, tractable one, that any person 
may easily learn to protect himself against imposition. The same plan 
has been sustained with the other subjects. 

Hard names and technical terms have been avoided as much as possible, 
but when terms of anatomical and medical science have been necessarily 
employed they are explained and applied with a degree of plainness and 
precision that brings them within the ready comprehension of every 
reader. 



VI AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

To aid the non-professional owner in deciding the nature of disease, en- 
gravings are given which show the positions in the different stages of 
various diseases, and which cannot fail to he of great value in determining 
the character of the disorder. 

This preface ought not to be concluded without acknowledging the able 
assistance rendered in the preparation of this book by Hon. Jonathan 
Periam, of Chicago, whose great experience with stock, and as an agri- 
cultural writer, extending through a quarter of a century, has been of 
such advantage in its preparation. To his extensive information, prac- 
tical suggestions, and ready pen, every department of the work is in- 
debted, and acknowledgments are hereby made. 

To Prof. Ed. Porter Thompson of Bentonville, Arkansas, a graceful 
and prolific writer, and a scholar of classical attainments, obligation is 
also expressed. 

J. R. M 



Note. — The present edition of the Illustrated Stock Doctor is presented to the public with various 
additions, which will doubtless be received as improvements. Prominent among them are the chap- 
ter on Bees, and various full-page illustrations. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART L 



THE HORSE, HIS HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS AND 

MANAGEMENT. 



CHAPTER I. 

ms msTORT as a companion and servant of man. 

Page. 
Connected witU Man from a Very Early Age.— His Importance as a Helper in the Work of the 
World.— Hltj Superiority Over the Other Animals.— The Horse and His Kider become in Some 
Measure on« Creature. —His Nativity: Doubt Concerning it. —His Existence upon Earth 
Probably Contemporaneous with that of Man.— The Most Ancient Authors Allude to Him.— 
He Passes into Different Parts of the Globe.— Wild Herds in the Eastern Continent.— Origin 
of the Wild Herds in America.— Found as a Domestic among Nearly all People.— Greater 
Liability to Disease in a Domestic than in a Wild State. —Subject to Deterioration under Ig- 
norant Management. — The Wisdom of the Arabs as Breeders and Keepers. — Difference of 
Opmion among Men as to sysJi;ms of Breeding; Attention Called to its Treatment in this Work. 
—Knowledge and Skill necessary to His Proper Care 33 

CHAPTER II. 

ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION. 
Necessity for a Comprehensive Idea of the Construction of the Horse, and the Relations of His 
Parts. — Scientific Terms Used, but Explained. — Subsequent Portions of the Work More Readily 
Understood by Reference to this Chapter. — Knowledge of Structure Indispensable to Surgery. — 
Skeleton; Sectional View of Thorax, Abdomen, and Pelvis; Vertical Section of Head; Section 
of Foot; Front and Back View of Foot; and External Parts 33 

CHAPTER III. 

HOW TO TELL A HORSE'S AGE. 
A Knowledge of Changes in the Teeth the Only Means.— This Chapter to be Studied in Connection 
with the Chart which Follows. — Buyers Likely, without this Knowledge, to be Deceived. — In- 
cisors Chiefly to be Relied on.— Condition of a Foal's Mouth.— The Changes that Follow.— How 
Foal Teeth are to be Distinguished from Horse Teeth. — Wearing away of the Grinder or Enam- 
eled Portion. — Number of Teeth in a Full Grown Animal. — Difference between Horses and 
Mares as to Number —Incisors, Hooks, and "Wolf's Teeth.'' How to Determine Age till Foal is 
Two Years Old.— Uow from Two to Old Age.— The Horse of Medium Size to be Taken as a Stand 



Vni TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Pac». 

arJ.— Shooting up and Grinding off.— -Irregular Teeth; IIow to Judge.— Peculiar Hardness of 

Bones and Slowness of Change in Certain iJreeds.— The Mule; Age Hard to Find Out with Ex- 
actness. — Deceptions; Ho'v to Detect. — Crib Biters; How to Examine. — Terms defined 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

DIFFERENT BREEDS AND THEIU CHARACTERISTICS. 
I. 'I'he Inferior Varieties : Many found in Both Hemispheres, ciome Good, but Little Known of 
Them.— II. Some considered as to Worli ratlier than Breed; the Farm Horse; the Hunter; the 
Hackney; Horses for Heavy Draft. — IIL The Arabian. — IV. The English Thoroughbred. — 
V. The Barb.— VI. The Persian.— VII. The Turk.— VIII. The Turkoman.— IX. The 
Egyptian. — X. The Dongola. — XI. The Wild Horse of America. — XII. The Norman Per- 
cheron.— XIII. The Clydesdale Horse.— XIV. The Thoroughbred in America.— XV. The 
Morgan.— XVI, The Narragansett Pacer.— XVII. The Vermont Draft Horse.— XVIII. The 
CanadiaJi. — XIX. The Connestoga. — XX. Ponies 53 

CHAPTER V. 

BREEDING AND RAISING. 

I. Importance of the Subject.— II. The Best Stock the Cheapest.— HI. Hereditary Tendencies and 
Immaturity to be Guarded Against.— IV. Principles of Transmission.— V. The two Methods, 
"in-and-in" and "cross" Breeding Considered. — VI. Treatment of the Mare after being Served, 
During Pregnancy, etc. — VII. How to Know whether a Mare is in Foal. — VIII. How to Know 
Tmie of Faaling.— IX. Abortion, or Slinking the Foal.— X. How to Raise Colts.— XI. Mules... 94 

CHAPTER VI. 

HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN A HORSE. 
I. American VS. English Foals. —11. At Weaning Time.— HI. The First Lesson. —IV. Training.— V. 
xraining to Work.— VI. Training to Back.— VH. Training to Saddle and Harness.— VHI. To 
Handle a Horse —IX. How to Handle a Vicious Colt.— X. Saddling and Harnessing.— XI. How 
to Subdue a Vicious Horse.— XII. How to Train to the Saddle.— XHI. Training to Trot ;in Har- 
ness. — XIV. How to Train to trot in Light Harness.- XV. How to Train for the Plow. — XVI. 
Trainingto the Wagon.— XVII. How to Train a Racer.— XVHI. Training a Stallion m 

CHAPTER VII. 

HOW TO SHELTER. 

I. Comfortable Shelter Economical.— II. Consideration in Constructing Stables. — IH. Mangers and 
Racks*— IV. How to Insure a Good Temperature. — V. Cleaning the Stables. — ^VI. The Loft. — 
V'l I. The Harness Room.— VIIL The Out-shed.— IX. The Surroundings.- X. Water 130 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HOW TO FEED, WATER AND GROOM. 
I. Laying the Foundation.— II. What to Feed.— HI. When to Feed.— IV. Watering.— V. Kinds an<J 
Quantities of Food to be Given.— VI. How to Prepare the Food.— VII. How to Make Mashes, 
Gruels and Hay-tea.— VHI The Value of Hay and Straw.— IX. Feeding Grain.— X. Stable Care, 
and Grooming.— XI. The Time to Clean.— XH. Care of the Feet.— XHI. Blanketing, when Nee - 
essary.- XIV, Proper Tools for the Stable 135 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. IT 

CHAPTER IX. 

BENEFITS OF KIND AND CAREFUL TREATMENT. 
I. Abusing a Faithful Servant.- -IL What are Barbarities. — III. A Picture from Life. — IV. The 
Other Side. — V. A Good Farmer's Surroundings. — VI. Farmer Unthrift's Farm. — VII. His 
Home.— VIII. The Careful Man's Theory.— IX. Using the Means We Have.— X. An Infalli- 
ble Rule 145 

CHAPTER X. 

HOW TO BUY. 
I. How to Get Correct Information.— II. The Buyer Must Know What He Wants.— III. Propor- 
tions of the Horse.— IV. The Cleveland Bay for Profit.— V. The Light Harness Horse.— VI. 
Saddle Horses of all Gaits.— VII. The High-Bred Hunting Horse.— VIII. Racing Horses.— 
IX. What the Racer Should be.— X. To Avoid Vices and Defects ; How to Detect.— XI. ' 
Other Faults and Imperfections 155 

CHAPTER XI. 

HOW TO BUY, CONTINUED. 
I. Buying Cheap Horses.— II. Color, in relation to Value.— III. Action.— IV. Fast walking 
Horses.— V. What a Horse should be. — VI. What Constitutes Unsoundness. — VII. Defini- 
tion of Unsoundness.— VIII. Illustration of Form and Symmetry.— IX. The Body and 
Limbs.— X. The Body as Standing Facing You.— XI. Front View of Fore-quarters.— Show- 
ing Different Bad Conformations.- XII. The Hind-quarters.- XIII. The View from 
Behind.— XIV. What Not to Buy.— XV. Buying for Blood ^ 173 

CHAPTER XII. 

RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 
I. Early History of the English Blood Horse.— II. How He was Improved.— III. The American 
Blood Horse.— IV. Celebrated American Horses.— V. History of Their Performances.— VI. 
Traiuing to Trotting 19.^ 

PART II. 

DISEASES OF THE HORSE. THEIR CAUSES; HOW TO KNOW 
THEM, AND HOW TO CURE THEM. 

CHAPTER I. 

I. Introduction. — II. External Manifestation of Disease 255 

CHAPTER II. 

DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND SUB-CUIANEOUS TISSUES. 

I. Scratches.— n. Grease.— ni. Thnish.— FV. Swelled Ankles.— V. Swelled Legs.— VI Surfeit. 
VII. Mange.— VIII. Ring-worm.— IX. Hide-boun4. — X. Saddle Galls, or Sitfasts.- XI. Fun- 
gous Collar Tumor —XII. Warts.— XIII. Vermin. ~X1V. Larva in <he Skin.— XV. Tetter. u-- 
XVI. Rat-tails.— XVII. Mallenders and Sallenders.— XVIII. Poll-evil.— XIX. Fistula 259 

CHAPTER III. 

DISEASES OF THE GLANDS AND NASAL MEMBRANES. 
I Glanders.— II. Farcy —UI. Distemper.— IV. Nasal Gleet.— V. Nasal Polypus 295 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 

CHAPTER IV. 

DROPSICAL AFFECTIONS. 
I. Dropsy of the Heart. —II. Dropsy of the Brain.— III. Dropsy of the Chest.— IV. Dropsy of the 
Skin of the Chest.— V. Dropsy of the Scrotum.— VI. Dropsy of the Abdomen 31J 

CHAPTER V. 

DISEASES OF THE THROAT, CHEST, AND LUNGS. 
I. Chest Founder.— II. Bronchitis.— III. Pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs.— IV. Con- 
sumption.— V. Pleurisy.— VI. Colds.- VH. Enlarged Glands.— VIII. Swelled Throat.— IX. 
Chronic Cough.— X. Malignant Epidemic— XI. DiflicuUy of Breathing.— XII. Broken Wind, 
Bellows, Heaves. — XIII. Influenza. — XIV, Pink Eye. — XV, Bleeding from the Nose, — 
•KVI. Strangles.— XVII, Spasmodic Action of the Glottis and Epiglottis 320 

CHAPTER VI. 

DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 
I. Sour Stomach.— II. Colic. — III. TheBot.— IV. Inflammation and Rupture of the Colon. — -V. In- 
flammation and Bleeding of the Rectum. — VI. Spontaneous Salivation. — VIL Inflammation of 
the Stomach.— VIH. Soreness and Itching of the Anus. — IX. Chronic Gastritis. — X. Spasm of 
the Diaphragm.— XI. Rupture of the Stomach —XII. Gorged Stomach. — XIII. Inflammation of 
the Peritoneum. — XIV. Strangulation of the Intestines,— XV. Functional Diseases of the Liver. 
— XVI. Parasites -which Afl'ect the Intestines. — XVII. Diarrhoea 344 

CHAPTER VII. 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, &c. 
I, Jaundice.— II. Enlargement of the Spleen.— III. Inflammation of the Kidneys.— IV. Profuse 
Staling, or Diabetes. — V. Bloody Urine, or Hajmaturia. — VI. Thick and Albuminous Urine. — 
VII. White or Lime Urine.— VIII. Gravel, or Stone in the Bladder. — IX, Suppression of the 
Urine.— X. Inflammation of the Bladder.— XI. Foul Sheath.— XII. Rupture of the Bladder.— 
XIII. Spasm of the Urethra.— XI V, Inflammation of the Organs of Generation 36-5 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 
I. Teething, or Dentition.— II. Shedding Teeth.— Ill Blind Teeth.— IV. Decay ol the Teeth.— V. 
Scurvy.— VI. Stump-sucking, or Crib-biting. —VII, Lampas,— VIII. Inflammation in and 
Around the Teeth —IX. Slavering.— X. Inflammation of the Tongue.— XI. Sharp and Project- 
ing Teeth.— XII. Scald Mouth.— XIII, Aptha,— XIV, Inflammation of the Parotid Gland.— XV, 
Fistula of the Parotid Duct 378 

CHAPTER IX. 

DISEASES OF THE HEART, BLOOD, &c, 
I. Thumps.— II. Scrofula.— III. Fever, or General Inflammation.— IV. Enlargement of the Heart. 
—V. Fatty Degeneration of the Heart.— VI. Enlargement of the Arteries.— VII. Inflammation 
of the Jugular Vein.— VIII. Inflammation of the Absorbents.— IX, Scarlatina 888 

CHAPTER X. 

DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
I, Hydrophobia, or Rabies.— II, Mad Staggers, or Phrenitis,— III, Blind Staggers, Megrims, 
or Vertigo.— IV, Apoplexy, or Sleepy Staggers,— V, Abscess within the Brain , 399 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 

Page. 

CHAPTER XI. 

DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 

I. Blood Spavin.— II. Bog Spavin.— III. Curb.— IV. Thorough-pin.— V. Tetanus, or Lockjaw.— VI. 
Cramps. "VII. Rheumatism.— VIII. String-halt 416 

CHAPTER XII. 

DISEASES OF THE EYE. 

1. Naturally Weak Eyes.— II. Sore Eye-lids.— III. Moon eyes.— IV. Cataract.— V. Hooks or 
Inflammation of the Haw. — VI. Dimness of Vision. — VII. Worms in tlie Eye.— VIII. Pur- 
ulent Ophthalmia. — IX. Fungoid Tumors in the Substance of the Eye. — X. Impediment in 
the Lachrymal Duct. — XI. Gutta Serena 426 

CHAPTER XTII. 

DISEASES OF THE BONES. 

I. Big Head and Big Jaw. — II. Sweeny of the Shoulder. — HI, Sweeny of the Hip. — IV. Bone Spav- 
in. —V. EnlargedHock.— VI.— Ring-bone.— VII. Stifle.— VIII. Splint.— IX. Sore shins, Inflam- 
mation of the Metacarpal Bones. — X. Rotten Bones. — XI. Inflammation of the Knee Bone. 
XU, Caries of the lower jaw 435 

CHAPTER XIV. 

DISEASES OF THE FEET. 

X. Ulceration of the Foot (navicular disease) . — II. Cracked Hoof . — HI. Hoof Rot. — IV. Corns. — V. 
Contraction of the Hoof (narrow heel). — VI. Injuries of the rrog. — VII. Founder, — VIII. Nail 
Pricking.— IX. Canker.— X. Sand Crack.— XI. False Quarter —XII. Quittor. — XIII. Toe 
Crack —XIV. Pumice Foot.— XV. Seedy Toe.— XVI. Ossified Cartilages.— XVII. Side Bones. 
XVHI . Incised Wounds of the Sole 451 

CHAPTER XV. 

WOUNDS AND INJURIES AND THEIR RESULTS. 
I. Strains and Sprains. — II. Overreach.— III. Brushing, or Speedy Cut. — IV. Broken Knees — V. 
Capped Elbow.— VI. Frost-bite. — VII. Burns and Scalds.— VIII. Rupture.- IX. Choking. — X. 
Wounds Penetrating the Abdominal Cavity. — XI. Contu.sed Wounds. — XII. Lacerated 
Wounds.— XIII. Punctured Wounds.— XIV. Broken Hock.— XV. Dislocations.— XVI, 
Various Fractures. — XVII. Various Distortions. — XVIII. Diseases of the Ear 468 

CHAPTER XVI. 

POISONS. 
I. Internal Poison. — II. Poisoning from Stings. — III. Poisoned Skin 482 

CHAPTER XVII. 

VETERINARY SURGERY. 
I. Castrating.— II. Bleeding.— III. Tracheotomy —IV. Periosteotomy.— V. Neurotomy.— VI. Di- 
vision of the Tendons. &c . &c., &c 4Sd 



Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS MINOR DISEASES. 

I. Melanosis, or Black Pigment Tumors.— II. Epithelial Cancer.— III. Dropsy of the Lungs.— IV 
Stmgs and Bites.— V. Falling oflf of the Hair.— VI. Acute Irritation of the Skin.— VII. Harden- 
ing of the Skin. — VIII. Exotosis of the Lower Jaw. — IX. Swelling, by Pressure of the Bridle.— » 
X. Sore Nose. — XI. Roaring, or High Blowing. — XII. Wind Galls. — XIII. Rupture of the Ham • 
string. — XIV. Broken Wind. — XV. Internal Hemorrhage. — XVI. Partial Paralysis 480 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Medicines: What to Keep; How to Obtain ; H«w to Prepare; and How to Give Them 500 

CHAPTER XX. 

Implements: What to Keep; How to Use 515 



PART III. 

CA.TTLE. 

THEIR HISTORY, ORIGIN, BREEDS AND CHARACTERISTICS, 
MANAGEMENT AND CARE. 

CHAPTER I. 

NATURAL HISTORY OF CATTLE. 

Their Origin. — Early Domestication. — The Different Kinds and Their Peculiarities. — Improved 
Breeds. — Devons. — Herefords. — Sussex. — Short Horns. — Alderneys. — Ayrshires. — Holsteins. 
— Kerry Cows.— Polled Cattle.— Galloways.— The Cherokee or Texas Cattle, Etc., Etc 519 

CHAPTER II. 

BREEDING AND FEEDING. 
Grasses.— Best Breeds.— How to Breed.— General Utility.— Breeding in Line.— Form and Qual- 
ity.— Practical Suggestions. — Breeding Grades. — Start tlie Herd. — Ten Years' Produce. — 
Selection.— Common-Sense.— Gestation of Cows.— Feeding Standards.— Ration for Milch 
Cows. — Raising Young Cattle. — Castration ; 625 

CHAPTER III. 

TRAINING AND WORKING. 

TrainiHg vs. Breaking.— Training the Calf.— Haltering.— Training to Milk.— Feeding at Milking 
Time.— Viciousness in Cews.— Hooking Cows.— Training Oxen.— Train Stock Young. — Summing 
up.— Managing a Kicking Cow 645 

CHAPTER IV. 

HOW TO SHELTER. 

Necespity of Shelter —Artificial Protection.— A Framed Stable. — A Cheap Stable.— About Barns.— 
A Common Sense Barn.— A Square Cross Barn.— Basements for Cattle.— Arranging the Base- 
ment.— Adapting Means to the End.— What to Plant 657 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIU 

Page. 

CHAPTER V. 

HOW TO PASTURE, FEED AND WATEB. 

About Pasturage. — Clovera that do Well — Undesirable Clovers.— Alfalfa. — The True Grasses. — 
Timothy, or Cat's Tail Grass. — Blue Grass. — Red Top. — Orchard Grass. — Fowl Meadow Grass. 
— Time for Pasturing. — Watering.— Feeding Stock Cattle.— How to Feed.— Feeding Milch Cows. . 675 

CHAPTER VI. 

BENEFITS OF KIND AND CAREFUL TREATMENT. 

Feeding for Profit. — As between well and ill Kept Stock. — Heavy AVeights. — Profit in Early Matu.- 
rity. — Make Beef Young. — Baby Beef. — Feeding; Cost in England. — Summer Feeding. — Animal 
Waste. — Animal Heat. — Advantages of Summer and Winter Feeding 682 

CHAPTER VII. 

HOW TO BUY AND HOW TO SELL. 

The Value of Good Care. — Estimating Weight. — Estimating by Measurement. — Buying to Feed. — 
How to Buy Breeders. — Where Good Beef Lies. — Buying Feeding Stock. — Analyzing the Carcass. 
— Proper Shape of Well-Bred Fattening Stock. — How to Buy.— Buying Milch Cows.- Buying 
Dairy Milkers. — Milk Mirrors. — ^The True Value of Milk Mirrors. — Value of Escutcheon Marks. — 
Milkers in all breeds. — Heredity. — Digestion. — Respiration. — Milk Veins. — Veins of the 
s^Jdder.— Judging Age by the Teeth 69r 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE DAIRY. 

Rushing into New Industries. — The Importance of Dairying. — Estimated Production of Butter and 
Cheese. — Conditions Necessary to Dairying. — How to Build. — Sub-earth Ventilation.— Care of 
Milk. — Modern Home Dairies. ^ — Animal Odor. — Tempeiature. — Various Methods of Raising 
Cream. — Making Dairy Butter.— Salting Butter. — Washing or Working Butter. — Packing 
Butter. — Preparing Packages.— Kind of Salt to Use. — Cheese Making. — Cheddar Cheese. — 
Cheshire Cheese. — How to Sell Butter. — Utilizing Waste Products 71S 



PART IV. 
Diseases of Cattle. 

THEIR CAUSES ; HOW TO KNOW THEM ; WHAT TO DO. 

CHAPTER I. 

DISEASES IN GENERAL-RECOGNIZING AND DISTINGUISHING THEM. 

Farmers Should Understand Symptoms. —Of Diseases in General.— Use Common Sense.— Gradua- 
tion of Doses.- Frequency of Administering.— Forms of Doses.— How to Give Medicine. — 
Injections.— Vapors, Spraying and Fumigation.— .Vnaesthetics.— To Deprive of Sensation. — 
Blistering.- Firing. — Setons. — Rowels. — Sewing np Wounds.— Fomentations —Operation of 
Bleeding. — Recognizing and Distinguishing Diseases. —The Pulse —The Breathing.— The Animal 
Heat.— The Skin and Hair.— The Posture.— Indications of Pain.— Special Signs in Cattle. 73r5 



XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Pag«. 

CHAPTER II. 

GESTATION, DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS THEREOF. 

Plural and Multiple Gestation. — Treatment During Gestation. — Birth. — Prolonged Labor. — ^Large 
Presentation. — Unnatural Positions of the Calf. — Flooding. — Presentation of After-birth. — In- 
version of the Womb. — Languid Labor. — Irritability and Straining. — Temporary Paralysis. — 
Abortion. — Isolation. — Milk Fever. — Mamraitis. — Treatment of Calves. — Dysentery 756 

CHAPTER III. 

INFECTIOUS, CONTAGIOUS AND EPIDEMIC DISEASES. 

Pneumonia. — History. — Its Malignant Contagiousness . — Definition. — How the Infection enters the 
System. — How Long is a Diseased Animal Infectious. — How to Know it. — What to do. — ^Xexas 
Fever. — How to Know it. — Bloody Murrain. — Its Malignant Character. — Preventives. — What 
to do. — Foot and Mouth Diseases. — Malignant Catarrh. — Lice. — Fouls. — Horn Ail. — 
Choking 763 

CHAPTER IV. 

MEDICINES AND INSTRUMENTS: WHAT TO KEEP. 

I. Dissection.— II. Action of Medicines.— III. Medicines to be Kept, ana Doses.— IV. Simple and 
Valuable Recipes. —V. Forms of Clysters.— VI. Infusions.— VII. Anti-Spasmodics.— VIII. Mu- 
cilages.— IX. Washes.— X. Poultices.— XI. Fumigations.- XII. Tincture for Wounds 777 



PART V. 

S h. e ep . 

THEIR HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS, BREEDING AND 

MANAGEMENT. 

CHAPTER I. 

ORIGIN, PRINCIPAL BREEDS AND CHARACTERISTICS, 
Cosmopolitan Nature of Sheep .—Long- Wooled Sheep.— I. Leicester.— II. Border Leicester.— III. 
Cotswold.— Good Qualities of Cotswolds.-Cotswolds in the West.— IV. LincolnSheep —V. New 
Oxfordshire Sheep.— VI. Middle- Wooled Sheep.— VII. Cheviot Sheep.— VIII. White-Faced 
Highland Sheep.— IX. Dorset Sheep.— X. Southdowns.— XI. Hampshire Downs.- XII. Shrop- 
shire Downs.— XIII. Oxford Downs .—Fine-Wooled Sheep.— XIV. American Merinos.— The 
Fleece.— The Head.— The Body.— The Most Profitable Sheep— Divisions of Wool 793 

CHAPTER II. 

BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 
WatchtulnessNecessary.— How to Breed.— Time for Breeding.— Coupling.— Keeping the Record.— 
The Management of Rams.— Training Rams.-Pasturing Sheep —Shade in Pastures.— Water.— 
Dosing Sheep.— Fall Pasturiige and Feeding.— Sheep Bjirns.— Special Winter Food .—Manage- 
ment of Lambs.— Docking Lambs. —Castration.— Weaning.— The Nursery 813 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV 

Pagx. 

PART VI. 

Diseases of Sh.eep. 

HOW TO KNOW AND HOW TO CURE. 
CHAPTER I. 

ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF SHEEP. 
The Hea«.— The Trunk.— The Fore-Leg.— The Hind-Leg.— Importance of the Head to Breeders.— 
Diseases of the Head and Brain.— The Teeth.— Swelled Head.— Vegetable Poisoning.— Inflamma- 
tion of the Eye.— Sheep Distemper.- How to Know it.— What to do.— Grubs in the Head.— How 
to Save the Sheep. Apoplexy. — Prevention. — Inflammation of the Brain.— Tetanus, or Lock- 
jaw.— Palsy.— Rabies.— Hydatids on the Brain.- Parasitesof the Body and Skin — The Scab.— 
BtoWtoKnow it— Diseases of the Generative and Urinary.Organs.— Diseases of the Limbs and 
Hoofs.— Foot Rot.— How to Cure it.— Fouls, and Travel-Sore Feet.— Gravel.— The Biflex Canal. 
Maggoty Sheep.— Lung Worms.— Intestinal Worms.- Rotten Liver .—Colic £23 



PART VII. 
S Tv^ine . 

HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS AND MANAGEMENT. 

CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY AND BREEDS. 
Origin of the Hog.— Teeth of the Hog.— Importance of Swine to Man.— I. Improved Breeds of 
Swine.— English Breeds.— II. The Berkshires. —Establishing the Improved Berkshire.— Stand- 
ard Characteristics of Berkshires.— III. Neapolitan Hogs.- IV. Essex Breed.— V. Yorkshire 
Hog— VI. Suflfclks.— VII. Lancashire Hogs.— VIII. Lancashire Middle-Breed.— IX. Large 
Lancashire. — American Breeds.— X. Poland China.— XI. Chester Whites.— XII. Jersey Reds. 
— Chesnires.- XIII. Characteristics.— Recapitulation of Breeds .S-il 

CHAPTER II. 

BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 

*T.portance of Swine.— A Back-Woods Hog.— Fixing and Holding the Characteristics.— Selection 
Always Important.— Breeding Age of Swine.— Care of Breeding Sows.— Weaning.— Mnnagement 
of Swine. — Absolute Cleanliness Necessary. — Summary 8G0 

CHAPTER III. 

FEEDING AND SHELTER. 

Good vs. Bad Food. — Summer Feeding. — Other Summer Foods. — Roots.— The Grains. — Feeding 
South. — Mast. — Feeding in Confinement. — Hog Barns. — A Cross Barn. — A Simple Pen. — Sum- 
mary.— Light vs. Heavy Hogs 8C3 



XVI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

fAOB 

PART VIII. 

Diseases of S^vine. 

HOW TO KNOW AND HOW TO CURE THEM. 
CHAPTER I. 

DISEA<«ES OF SWINE. 
Explanation of Cut.— Difficulty of Administering Medicine. — Good Nursing the Essential.— Mallg 
nantand Contagious Diseases. — Malignant K))izootic Catarrh. — HowtoKnow it. — What to do. — 
Intestinal " Hog Cholera," — How to Know It. — Causes. — Treatment. —Prevention. — 
Contagious Pneumo-enteritis — Us Origin. — The Erysipelatous Form. — The Form with 
Malignant Throat. — What to Do. — Malignant Anthrax, Splenic Fever. — True Charbon, 
— Inflammatory Diseases. — Quinsy, orStrangles.— Rising of the Lights. — Pneumonia. — Catarrh 
in the Head. -Diseases of the Skin .—Measles — How to Know it. — The Lard Worm.— What to do. 
—Trichina Spiralis.— How to Cure —Lice —Diarrhea —Summary , 879 



PART IX. 

"Poultry. 

HISTORY ; BREEDS, THEIR CHARACTERISTICS ; BREEDING AND 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 

CHAPTER I. 

History and Wild Types 895 

CHAPTER II. 

VAEIETIES OF BARN- YARD FOWLS. 
I. Dorking Fowls.— II. Silver Grey Dorkings.— III. Black Dorkings.— IV. Fawn-Colored Dork- 
mga. — V. Bolton Greys. — VI. Dominique Fowls.— VII. Plymouth Bocks. — VIII. The Ostrich 
Fowls. — IX. Hamburg Fowls. — X. Black Hamburgs.— XI. Leghorns.— XII White Leghorns. 
—XIII. Spanish Fowls, —XIV. French Fowls.— XV. The Houdans.- XVI. LaFleche Fowls.— 
XXII. The Creve Cceurs. —XVIII. Large Asiatic Breeds.— XIX. The Chittagongs.— XX. BulT 
Cochins.- XXI. Partridge Cochins— XXII. White Cochins.— XXIII. Brahma Fowls.— XXIV. 
Light Brahmas— XXV. Frizzled Fowls.— XXVI. Silkies.— XXVII. Breda or Guelder Fowls.— 
XXVIII. Game Fowls— 1. Brown-breasted Reds.— 2. Earl Dtrby Game.— 3. Duck-winged 
Game.— 4. White Georgian Game.— 5. Game Bantams —6. Other Bantams —7. Seabright Ban- 
tams.— 8. Japanese Bantams 903 

CHAPTER III 

BREEDING. 
ThePlumage.— Ideal Shape —Breeding to Type.— Disparity of Sexes.— Mating.— Breeding Grades. 934 

CHAPTER IV. 

MAN A GEMENT OF FOWLS . 
GoingintoBusiness.— Village Yards —The Poultry House —Proper Food for Fowls.- Best Breeds 
For Market —Egg Producers.— How to Fatten.— How to kill and dress Fowls.— Packing i'or 
•lurket 942 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XVll 

PAaa. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE HOME OF THE TURKEY. 

Varieties of the Domestic Turkey.— 1. The Common Turkey.— II. English Turkey.— III.— The Hon- 
duras Turkey.-IV. Bronzed-Black Turkey.— V. Guinea Towl —VI. The Peacock 947 

CHAPTER VI. 

DUCKS. 
1. Bouen Ducks. — II. Aylesbury Ducks. — HI. Call Ducks.— IV. Cayuga Blaek Ducks. — ^V. Fancy 
Ducks — ^\'^I, Black East India Ducks . — Summary 9,54 

CHAPTER VII. 

GEESE. 
I. Embden or Bremen Geese. — II. Toulouse Geese. — III. Hong Kong Geese. — IV. "White Chinese 
Geese. — ^V. African Geese. — VI. Canada Wild Geese. — Management of Ueese 9(i2 

Glossary of Terms Used by Fanciers and Breeders 



PART X. 

DISEASES OF POULTRY, AND TPIEIR REMEDIES. 
CHAPTER I. 

Anatomy of the Hen. — Apoplexy. — Its Cause. — Roup. — To Cure. — Egg Bound. — Inflammation 
of the Egg Passage. — Cholera. — Gapes. — Cause. — How to Cure. — Crop Bound. — Diph- 
theria, or Croup. — Lice 



PART XI. 
BEES : THEIR HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, AND MANAGEMENT 

CHAPTER I. 

Classification of Bees and History. — Queens, Drones, and Workers.— Stages of Bee-L:fe. — The 
Queen. — Products of Bees. — Management. — Old and New Styles. — Honey Extractor. — Wax 
Extractor. — New Races of Bees. — Prospects of Bee-Culture. — Starting an Apiary. — Hives. — 
Transferring Bees. — The Bee-Smoker. — Location of the Apiary. — Bee- Veils. — Example of 
Successful Bee-Keeping. — The Way to do it.— Setting out Hives. — Artificial &%varming. — 
Introducing Queens. — Extracting Comb-Honey. — Treatment of Comb-Honey. — Wintering.. 97& 



PART XII. 
THE DOG: HISTORY, BREEDS AND CHARACTERISTICS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Origin of the dog. — Usefulness of the dog to man. — The English Setter. — Tlie Irish Setter. — The 
Gordon Setter. — The Native Setter.— Tlie Dropper. — The Pointer. — The Spaniel.— The New- 
foundland dog.— The Mastiff.— The Bull dog.— The Blood hound.— The Fox hound.— The 



XV 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Beagle. — The Sheep dog. — The Greyhound. — The Dalmatian or Coach dog. — The Scotch 
Terrier.— The English Terrier.— The Skye Terrier.— The Poodle 997 

CHAPTER II. 

Choice of Sire and Dam in Breeding. — Age to Breed.— Time of Year to Breed.— Management 
of Bitch in Season.— Duration of Heat.— Management of Bitch in Whelp.— Whelping.— 
Care of Whelps.— Weaning.— Feeding.— Training of Pointers and Setters.— Training of 
Spaniels.— Training of Hounds. — Training of Vermin Dogs. — To Prevent and to Break 
from Gun Shyness. — Hunting a Bitch while in Whelp 1016 

CHAPTER III. 

DISEASES OF DOGS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 

Treatment of Asthma. — Bronchitis. — Common Cold. — Influenza. — Pleurisy. — Pneumonia. — 
Consumption. — Rheumatic Fever.^-Distemper. — Inflammation of the Stomach. — Inflam- 
mation of the Liver. — Inflammation of the Bowels. — Mange. — Canker of the Ear. — Flees and 
Lice. — Chorea or Jerks. — Fits. — Worms. — Rickets or Large Joints. — Tumor and Cancer. — 
Puerperal Fits. — Protracted Labor. — Sprains. — To Harden Tender Feet. — Rabies or 
Hydrophobia 1025 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



' PAGE. 

ITorse, skeleton of 39 

" longitudinal section of 42 

tlovse's head, vei-tical section of 43 

Horse, bones of the foot 44 

" " " " sectional view of 44 

" foot and lower leg, vertical section of 45 

" external parts of 4^ 

A good horse for light driving 56 

A good horse for all work 56 

Light hunting horse 58 

Heavy " 59 

English roadster 60 

" coach horse 61 

Gen. Grant's Arabian Stallions 65 

English race horse, Eclipse 69 

Norman Percheron stallion 75 

" " mare 77 

Clydesdale stallion, " Young Wellington " , 81 

"Satellite," the Hambletonian trotting stallion 84 

Shetland ponies 91 

Shales 99 

Dervish 100 

ftolddust 101. 

Poitou ass 109 

Horse's head with bearing-rein 124 

" without '* J24 

Team of the cruel and improvident master 146 

" " kind and careful master 147 

Barn of the provident master 149 

Farmer Unthrift's barn 150 

" " home 150 

The barn of the cruel master 151 

Model halter on model colt 151 

Team of the kind master 152 

" " cruel master 152 

Shiftless man's door-yard gate 1-32 

field gate 1-52 

High-bred roadster 156 

Finely bred roadster 157 

Good family horse 158 

Proportions of the horse 159 

Cleveland Bay 161 

Goldsmith Maid. 25« 

Movement in trotting 241* 

19 



20 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

PAGE. 

Fine trotter in light harness 1(54 

Good form for saddle horse 165 

Horse of good action jgg 

Model form for speed in running jgg 

Progression of blind horse 171 

iMovement in walking 176 

Side and front view of heads, good 182 

" " " bad 183 

Side view of fore-quarters, showing good shoulder , 184 

'• " " bad conformation 186 

Front view, showing breast and limbs, good 187 

" of fore-quarters, showing bad conformations 191 

Good hind-quarters 192 

Side view of hind-quarters 194 

Back view of hind-quarters 195 

" " bad 196 

External manifestations of disease 256 

First stage of confirmed grease exudation 263 

Second " " '• 263 

Horse affected with surfeit 271 

One of the causes of hide-bound in horses 277 

Poll-evil during first stage 288 

" " second stage 289 

Slight enlargement, which may end in fistulous withers 292 

Fistulous withers, worst stage ^ 292 

A fit subject for founder or bronchitis 321 

A horse dressed for bronchitis 322 

A cough of incurable bronchitis ." 324 

Case of congestion 324 

Position assumed by horse with an attack of pneumonia 325 

Horse's head with cold 330 

" " " lymphatic gland swollen 331 

JSTose-bag for steaming horse with cold SSI 

"• ' " the throat blistered 333 

Seton in the throat of a horse 333 

A horse quidding 334 

The act of coughing 334 

Bit bearing upon jaw 338 

Confirmed influenza 339 

Opening the abscess of strangles 343 

The first stage of spasmodic colic 346 

The second stage of " " 340 

The third stage of " " 347 

The first stage of flatulent " 348 

Horse dying of flatulent colic 348 

Aestrus hemorrhoidalis 350 

" eggs, larvje and fly 350 

Nose strained upward 352 

Application of an ammoniacal blister •' 353 

Horse suffering from acute gastritis 354 

Unnatural attitude indicative of abdominal injury 358 

Position assumed by horse suffering from abdominal injury 35S 

Test for hemorrhage of the liver 360 

Colt picking hair from its leg, giving proof of worms 361 

Symptoms attending disease of urinary organs 367 

Test for inflammation of the kidneys ..^^^.^^..^ 36Sf 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 21 

PAGE 

Horse suffering from bloody urine 370 

Position assumed by horse having albuminous urine 371 

Horse suffering with tooth-ache 380 

Burning for lampas 381 

Effects of cruel use of bit 383 

Aptha ". 381 

Countenance of a horse with rabies 400 

Destructive impulse of hydrophobia 401 

Horse during the mad stage of staggers 404 

Expression characteristic of megrims 409 

A horse dying with abscess within the brain 414 

A horse mad from inflammation of the brain 414 

Test for tetanus 419 

Slings for tetanus or fractured limb 420 

Mode of feeding horse with chronic tetanus 421 

Showing how far a horse with tetanus is capable of motion 421 

Horse having string-halt 424 

Mode of blinding a horse and applying lotion to the eye 430 

Extirpation of the eye 432 

Obstruction of the lachrymal gland 433 

Eye effected by gutta serena 434 

Foot, incapable of being raised Irom ground by reason of spavin 439 

Natural position of foot when raised from the ground durmg an easy trot 439 

Closing crack in hoof 453 

Acute fever in the feet 457 

The low choke ; 470 

Manner of using seton needle 408 

A horse suffering from drastic poison... 482 

Tumor caused by curb chain 492 

How to hear the sound made in a horse's windpipe 496 

Internal hemorrhage 497 

Horse suffering from partial paralysis of the hind legs 498 

Teeth of ox at age of five years 520 

Section of head of ox 521 

Devon bull " Wilmot " 521 

Standard Devon bull 523 

North Devon cow 525 

Devon working ox 526 

Hereford bull 530 

Hereford cow and calf. 533 

Sussex cow 536 

Durham bull and cow,old style 53o 

Shorthorn cow, in outline 540 

« bull 543 

" cow, "Gala" 545 

Yearling Shorthorn bull 517 

Shorthorn cow, "Diana" 548 

" bull, "Hiawatha" 551 

" cow "Rosamond" 552 

Points of Shorthorn bull 554 

Jersey bull, "Comet" 564 

A trio of Jerseys 566 

Model cow, perfection, points illustrated 569 

Jersey bull " " " 571 

Jersey cow 573 



22 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

PAGK 

Jersey heifer 574 

Modern Ayrshire cow 577 

Holsteincow 59-) 

ilolstein heifer 597 

flolstein bull ^. 603 

" " of the Cbenery milking stock 607 

PoJIed Angus cow 611 

Polled Angus bull 612 

A Texas steer 610 

Modified Texans, or Cherokee cattle 618 

Working by main force 645 

Results of bad handling 648 

" of good handling 649 

To prevent a cow from kicking 651 

" " sucking 651 

Harness to prevent sucking 652 

To prevent hooking 652 

A primitive tackle, but good trainer 673 

Old style farm yard 658 

Farmer Thriftless' mode of protection 658 

" Thrifty's mode of protection 659 

Primitive protection 659 

Main floor of dairy barn 662 

Plan of stables in basement 664 

Cattle-feeding basement 664 

Main floor of dairy barn 665 

Wintered without shelter 666 

Wintered with good shelter • 666 

Farmer Thrifty's cattle 668 

Farmer Slack's shelter 669 

A pastoral scene ^'''^ 

Earl Spencer's prize ox 698 

Outline of fat bullock 700 

Milk mirror of Jerseys ''^^ 

Great milk mirror on Holstein cow 706 

Ground plan of model creamery 719 

Application of steam to the nostrils 741 

Nose bag for steaming ;.~ 742 

A pastoral scene 6^1 

To prevent inversion of the vagina 755 

Malignant catarrh, second or sloughing stage 773 

Skeleton of the ox 778 

Points of sheep 794 

Leicester ewe and lamb 795 

Leicester ram 796 

Sheared Cotswold ram 799 

Group of Cotswold ewes 798 

Sheared Cotswold ewe 800 

Yearling Cotswold ^01 

Cotswold ewes '. 801 

New Oxfordshire ewe 802 

Black-faced Highland sheep 803 

Highland sheep 804 

Dorset ram 805 

Southdown ram 805 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 2-^ 

„ , . ^ Page. 
Hampshire Down gOg 

Oxford Downshire Ram 807 

Group of American Merinos HQg 

Merino ram 810 

" ewe 811 

Division of wool 812 

Convenient feeding trough for sheep 81H 

Allowed to shift for itself..^ blM 

Wintered with good shelter and feed , 819 

Skeleton of Leicester sheep 82ii 

SlsuU of a polled sheep 825 

Head of sheep, vertical section 825 

A bad case of scab 832 

Old China boar 844 

China sow 8^5 

Berkshire boar 847 

Essex boar , 849 

Short-faced Lancashire hogs 852 

Poland-China boar 854 

Chester white hogs 856 

Improved Cheshire 858 

Backwoods hog 861 

Berkshire sow, breeder 865 

Hazel splitter, sow 866 

Breeder in good flesh, sow 873 

Arkansas tooth picks 874 

Skeleton of the hog 879 

Creve Cceur cock and hen - 895 

Mexican wild Turkey 896 

Embden or Bremen geese 897 

Aylesbury ducks 89f» 

Gallus Sonneratii 900 

Head of siiigle-wattled Brahma fowl 90i 

" Breda or Gueldre 901 

White Dorking cock 904 

Gray English Dorkings 905 

Dominique fowl 906 

Plymouth Rock fowls 907 

Bucks County (Pa.) fowls 908 

Black Hamburg fowls 909 

Golden-pencilled Hamburgs 910 

Silver penciled Hamburgs 911 

White Leghorns 912 

Standard White Leghorns 918 

Black Spanish fowls 914 

Houdan hen 915 

'La Fleche fowls 916 

Creve Cceur fowls 917 

Buflf Cochin cock 918 

" " hen 919 

Partridge Cochins 920 

White Cochin fowls 922 

Dark and Light Brahmas 923 

Pair of Silky fowls 925 

Breda cock and hen 926 



24 ILLUSTUATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

. PAGB. 

Brown Breasted Red Game , 907 

Earl Derby Game 928 

Duck Winged Game fowls ; 929 

White Georgian Games 930 

Seabright Bantams 931 

Barren Full-feathered hen 932 

Japanese Bantam cock ■. 933 

" " pullet 933 

Points of poultry 93i 

Points of head of cock 935 

Analysis of wing plumage 936 

Points of the fowl 937 

Illustration showing points 938 

Breeding to type 940 

Fountain for poultry 946 

Wild turkey *. 948 

Common turkey 949 

Ocelated turkey 950 

Bronze turkey 951 

Guinea fowl 952 

Peacock 953 

Rouen duck 955 

Aylesbury and Rouen ducks compared 956 

Gray Call ducks 957 

White Duck 957 

Cayuga Black ducks 958,960 

Black East India ducks 959 

Aylesbury ducks .' 961 

Embden geese 963 

Toulouse geese 964 

Hong Kong geese • 955 

White China geese • 966 

African goose 967 

Anatomy of the hen 974 

Bone of leg and foot of fowl 974 

Back of the barn 978 

Straw Hive 979 

Drone, Queen, and Worker 980 

Comb Foundation 980 

Egg and Brood .981 

Honey Extractor 983 

Comb Basket 983 

Wax Extractor 984 

Specimens of Queen Bees 984 

Double-Walled Hive 986 

Picture of D. A. Jones, the Bee-King, of Beeton, Ont 986 

Bee Smoker 988 

Bee Vail 988 

Cage for Shipping Queens 991 

Honey Knife • • 992 

Wolf searching for food 998 

English Setter W<'0 

Pointer and Wounded Grouse lO^'S 

Hunting Spaniel lOOti 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 25 



PAOE. 



Newfoundland Dog rescuing a man .1008 

Mastiff 10(39 

Mount St. Bernard Dogs 1010 

Bull Dog 1010 

British Bloodhound 1012 

Dalmatian Dog IO14 

Water Spaniel IO15 

English Fox Hound '. lOig 

Training of Pointers and Setters IO20 

Shepherd's Dog 1022 

English Bloodhound 1023 

Gordon Setter 1024 

British Greyhounds 1027 

Scotch Terrier 1028 

English Terrier » 1031 

Skye Terrier : 1034 

Chart for telling age of Horses (49 Illustrations) 46 

Chart for telling age of Cattle (13 " ) 520 



COLORED LITHOGRAPHS. 

Percheron Norman horse, " Yladimar " yg 

" Iroquois," Lorillard's famous horse 228 

Black's Hambletonian 248 

" Maud S." trotting 252 

Short-horn cattle 5gO 

Jersey cattle g-^ 

Grade short-horn triplets g25 

Cotswold sheep ^qq 

Berkshire hogs g^ 



PART I. 

THE HORSE ; 

:HIS: 

HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS 
AND MANAGEMENT. 



THE HOESE. 



CHAPTER I. 
HIS HISTORY AS A COMPANION AND SERVANT OF MAN. 



CONNECTED WITH MAN FROM A VERY EARLY AGE. HIS IMPORTANCE AS A HELPER IN THE 

WORK OF THE WORLD. HIS SUPERIORITY OVER THE OTHER ANIMALS. THE HORSE 

AND HIS RIDER BECOME IN SOME MEASURE ONE CREATURE. HIS NATIVITY: DOUBT 

CONCERNING IT. HIS EXISTENCE UPON EARTH PROBABLY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH 

THAT OF MAN. THE MOST ANCIENT AUTHORS ALLUDE TO HIM. HE PASSES INTO DIF- 
FERENT PARTS OF THE GLOBE. WILD HERDS IN THE EASTERN CONTINENT. ORIGIN 

OF THE WILD HERDS IN AMERICA. FOUND ASA DOMESTIC AMONG KEARLY ALL PEO- 
PLE. GREATER LIABILITY TO DISEASE IN A DOMESTIC THAN IN A WILD STATE. 

SUBJECT TO DETERIORATION UNDER IGNORANT MANAGEMENT. THE WISDOM OF THE 

ARABS AS BREEDERS AND KEEPERS. DIFFERENCE OF OPINION AMONG MEN AS TO SYS- 
TEMS OF BREEDING : ATTENTION Called to its treatment in this work. KNOWL- 
EDGE AND SKILL NECESSARY TO HIS PROPER CARE. 

" And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle aftei 
their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : 
and God saw that it was good. And God said. Let us make man in 
our image, after our likeness ; and let them have dominion over the tish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all 
the earth." 

Although the precise period at which the horse was subjected to the 
use of man is unknown, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that it was 
{it a time long anterior to his mention in history ; and it is probable that 
since the day when man was made master of all other created things, 
no animal has been more constantly his companion and friend ; and that 
no other has contributed so nmch assistance in subduing wild nature and 
making everything subservient to his will and promotive of his happiness. 
Other animals, particularly sheep and cattle, have shared Avith the horse 
this usefulness to mankind, it is true : and in our present civilized state, 
when mechanical ingenuity is making such rapid strides in dispensing with 

33 



34 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

animal labor, it may be, as is sometimes claimed, that the wool-bearin« 
and milk-giving animals — especially considering that these same animals 
furnish also a large proportion of our flesh food — are to be held as taking 
the precedence ; but as to adaptability, becoming, as it were, a creature of 
all work ; as to comeliness and quickness of motion ; as to a certain sym- 
pathy with his master that makes him at times so to partake of his spirit 
and motions as to seem one with him ; as to a readiness of submission to 
drudgery as Avell as to proud employments, he is without a rival in the 
world. 

It is affirmed by many that the horse is a native of Asia, but of this we 
really know nothing. Others affirm with equal, or almost equal, plausi- 
bility, that he is a native of central Africa. Where all is conjecture, it 
is needless in a practical work of this character to speculate. Wherever 
his primal home may have been, it is at least within the bounds of proba- 
bility that his existence in Asia, in his present state of development, is 
contemporary with that of man upon earth. Some among the very earlL 
est records of the human race contain allusions to him as a well known 
animal, in the service of man. The description in the Book of Job, a 
I)roduction admitted to be of the very highest antiquity, is a case in point. 
He is mentioned here, in glowing terms, as a martial adjunct to his mas- 
ter — and not as a newly-discovered or recently-subdued creature, but as 
one with which the world was familiar. Sculptured images of horses as 
beautiful of form almost as the noble Arabian of to-day have been found 
amonsr the ruins of the cities of the desert. He is mentioned by Moses 
in connection with the Egyptians ; and records older than the wi'itings of 
Moses point to his having been known and used by that singular people 
from the dawn of their wonderful ci\alization. 

We find him thus in both Asia and Africa ; and during all the historic 
period he has been present with man as though native to the soil of many 
districts of both Continents. Whether borne thither by natural result of 
migratory wandering, in a wild state, or Avhether by the ever-spreading 
human family, there is little to guide us in determining. In the more 
thinly populated districts of Asia, notably in Southern Siberia, great wild 
herds have been long known to exist. 

Though, as we have previously intimated, there must have been :i 
noble breed of horses in Arabia in the days of their most ancient cities, 
the introduction of the present breed into that country is thought to have 
i)een of a comparatively modern date. It seems clear that long subse- 
quent to the beginning of the Christian era there were few horses in 
Arabia, and those few of no striking excellence, and that the now cele- 
brated Arabians have either sprung from good horses introduced into the 



THE HORSE, HIS ORIGIN, ETC. 35 

country within the last thousand years, or are the result of judicious 
breeding and kindly care bestowed upon a native stock. 

He was brought as a domestic animal to the New World, by the early 
adventurers ; — and no trace of him, (if we except a kind of cloven-footed 
species), having been found upon the Continent, we can account for the 
herds of wild horses, known to have long existed in different parts of 
North and South America, upon no other supposition than that they are 
the descendants of certain Andalusian mares and steeds brought over by 
the Spaniards, and abandoned by them when they could no longer render 
them service, or left free to escape to the forests on the death of their 
masters in battle. There is a story current — of doubtful authenticity, 
however — ^that all these immense herds, in both North and South America, 
are sprung from one stallion and two mares that escaped from the expe^ 
dition of De Soto through Florida, Georgia, and elsewhere. Be this as 
it may, there are now many great herds — a single one, especially in South 
America, sometimes numbering many thousands. 

As a domestic animal, the horse is found among almost every people 
on the globe ; and his uses vary with, the degree of civilization enjoyed 
])y his owners. It may be remarked also that this degree of usefulness 
is intimately associated with the degree of his deterioration and with the 
diseases to which he is subject. In a wild state, he is almost free from 
disorders of every kind, — so much so that unless killed by accident or by 
deprivation of necessary food and drink, as is sometimes the case, he 
lives to a great age — d3dng in the course of nature, it is believed, at fiom 
thirty to sixty years. Among the Arabs, where his condition approaches 
more neiarly to a natural state than among any other people, except the 
Indians, and where his laborious service to his master is limited almost 
exclusively to carrying a single rider, he displays his greatest perfections 
as a domestic animal, and enjoys the greatest immunity from disease. 
Among the leading nation.s of Europe and their colonies, where he is for 
the most part made literally "a beast of burden" in the different capaci- 
ties of animal for the saddle and for every species of draught, and where 
man practices almost unrestrained not onl}^ his active cruelties but man}' 
unwitting enormities, he is said by good authority to be constantly deter- 
iorating and becoming more and more subject to diseases and to prema- 
ture death. 

Among the Arabs, too, the best breeds are preserved in their purity ^ 
whereas, among more civilized nations all efforts of man to improve the 
stock, or even to preseiwe any desired qualit}', result at last in rendering 
the subjects of his experiments more liable to fall into various disorders, 
and, except in rare instances, in ultimate failure. 



36 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

It may not be irrelevant to state in this connection that the great excel 
lence of the Arabian of the present day, whatever may have been his 
orio-in, is due hi part to the extraordinary affection felt for him by his 
master, which manifests itself in the extreme care that is lavished upon 
him, and to which he is almost as sensitive as a human creature ; in part 
to his freedom from that severe labor by which the horses of other na- 
tions are prematurely broken, stiffened, and deprived of spirit; and 
partly, no doubt, by the steps which are taken, not so much to improve, 
but to preserve, a choice breed. While other nations, notably the Eng- 
lish, French and American, are engaged in ceaseless endeavors to im- 
prove, and, according to some authorities, constantly making lamentable 
failures — defeating their own ends by the systems of breeding, training, 
and use, which they adopt — the wild sons of the desert maintain for their 
horses from age to age the superiority which they were first found to 
possess. 

Men differ in opinion as to the cause of all this, and the mooted ques- 
tions of crossing and in-and-in breeding find their respective champions, 
and the discussion is from time to time renewed ; but the fact remains 
that the horses of Arabia excel all others ; while another important fact 
seems to be most generally overlooked, that the Arabs neither cross nor 
actually breed in-and-in, but, having by some means obtained a noble race 
they ouard equally against admitting admixture of blood and against too 
close consanguinity. 

The subject of breeding, however, will be found to have been more 
fully discussed under its proper head ; and in conclusion it will perhaps 
be sufiicient to urge upon the attention of the intelligent owner and 
breeder some few facts which have been touched upon in the course of 
this brief sketch, namely : That among horses in a wild state disease 
is rarely known, though admixture of blood most probably does take 
place, and, for aught we know to the contrary, as close in-and-in 
breeding as the most pronounced advocate of that system could wish. 
Thus, we find exemption from destructive disorders, but ordinarily no 
strongly marked characteristics of race constantly prevailing, and but 
rarely among them what may be termed really fine animals. 

Again, that among the horses of the Arabs and the American Indians, 
disease is almost as rare as among the wild herds. And again, among 
those nations where the horse is in the highest degree useful, becoming 
more the slave than the companion of man, he is the subject of a multi- 
tude of infirmities scarcely equalled in number by those to which man is 
himself heir. It has been said that in becoming the companion and the ser- 
vant of man, he has partaken, in some measure, of both man's spirit and 
liis physical frailties. In battle, he adds to the terrors of the conflict 



THE HORSE, HIS ORIGIN, ETC. 37 

by his fierceness as well as by his strength and swiftness ; in the stables 
of careless opulence, he becomes the pampered victim of abundance, and 
falls a prey to diseases that come by irregular exercise and surfeiting ; 
with hard and driving task-masters, in the marts of trade, and subject to 
the exactions of business, he is soon stiffened, spavined, and generally 
broken as to both conformation and locomotion ; while among the poorer 
class of tillers of the soil and other toilers, he seems to become spiritless 
and dull, and subject to diseases that come rather from want of care 
than from either over-work or actual deprivation of food and drink. 

In his best estate, he is the noblest of the lower animals ; in his worst, 
he is still a property of man, and a helper in his work. A knowledge 
of his ailments, and the possession of that skill necessary to his relief, is 
therefore essential to every one who owns even the commonest of the 
specie*. 
3 



CHAPTER II. 
ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION. 



KECESSITY FOR A COMPREHENSIVE IDEA OF THE CONSTRUCTION OP THE HORSE, AND THE RE- 
LATIONS OF HIS TARTS. SCIENTIFIC TERMS USED, BUT EXPLAINED. SUBSEQUENT 

PORTIONS OF THE WORK MORE READILY UNDERSTOOD BY REFERENCE TO THIS CHAPTER. 

KNOWLEDGE OF STRUCTURE INDISPENSABLE TO SURGERY. SKELETON; SECTION^ 

AL VIEW OF THORAX, ABDOMEN, AND PELVIS; VERTICAL SECTION OF HEAD; SECTION 

OF foot; front and back view OF foot; and external parts. 

Ill order that the reader may obtain a clear and comprehensive knowl- 
edge of the construction of the horse in all his parts and of the proper 
relations of those parts, it is thought best to introduce here, in one con- 
nected view, a description of the frame-work or skeleton, as seen in Fig. 
1 ; of the internal organs and their positions, as seen in Fig. 2 ; of the 
head and its contents, Fig. 3 ; of the peculiar formation of the foot. Figs. 
4, 5, and 6, and of the external parts of the animal, Fig. 7. 

It will be observed that while we have used the ordinary scientific terms 
in naming these various parts, we have annexed, wherever necessary, 
such explanations as will enable the plain reader to get the full meaning 
intended to be conveyed. 

Some attention devoted to the subject here will of course supersede the 
necessity of constantly recurring and tedious explanations throughout 
the subsequent part of the work. The clearness and fulness of the illus- 
trations i^rovided leave nothing more, we think, to be desired on that 
head; and if the reader chance to find, in our directions as to the treat- 
ment of any disease, allusions to the structure of certain parts which he 
has not well in mind, or terms used with which he is not entirely familiar, 
nis difficulties can be speedily removed by reference to this chapter. 

Any attempt to perform those surgical operations, however simple, 
which sometimes become necessary in the treatment of domestic animals, 
must of course be directed by that knowledge of form, structure, and 
mlated functions which we endeavor here to impart. 
38 



ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION 



39 




Fig. 1. Skeleton. 



Explanations. — A — Cervical vertebi-se, or seven tones or joints of the 
neck. 

B, B — Dorsal verteln'ce, or the eighteen larger joints of the back-bone. 

C — Lumbar vertebra : — the six joints of the back-bone lying betwc-on 
the upper ends of the false ribs, !uid the upper edge of the haunch bones. 

D — Sacrum, or bone which forms the back pail of the pelvis. 

E — Coccygeal bones, or tail bones, 

F, F— Ribs. 

G — Costal cartilages, or the cartilages b}'^ which the ends of the ribs' 
are joined. 

H — The scapula, or shoulder blade. 

I — The humerus, or large round bone between the point of the shoul- 
der and the elbow, or u])per part of the fore-leg. 

K. K — The radiuses, the outer bones of the fore-legs, extending from 
humerus to knee. 



40 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

L — The ulna, the larger of the two bones of the upper part of fore- 
leg, lying behind the radius and extending from the knee to the lower 
part of chest. 

M — The carpus, or knee, composed of: 1, the scaphoid, or bone hav- 
ing a boat-like form ; 2, the semi-lunar, or bone resembling a half-moon ; 
8, the cuneiform, or wedge-shaped bone ; 4, the trapezium, or bone re- 
sembling the mathematical figure of that name ; 5, the trapezoid, or bone 
resembling a trapezoid; 6, the os magnum, or great bone of the knee; 
7, the unciform, or hook-shaped bone ; 8, the pisiform, or pea-shaped 
bone. 

l\ N — The large metacarpal or cannon, the big bone of the fore-leg 
reaching from th^ knee to the ankle. 

— Small metacarpal or "splint bones," the two smaller bones of the 
lower part of the fore-legs. 

p p — The sessamoid bones — two small bones found in the substance 
of the tendons at the joining of the fore-leg to the ankle. 

Q Q — Phalanges, embracing: 1, the upper pastern bone ; 2, the os co- 
rona, or lower pastern bone ; 3, the os pedis, or first bone in the leg, 
inside the hoof — the coffin-bone ; and naviculare, a small ship-shaped 
bone, at the back of the lower pastern, not marked in the figure. 

P — The pelvis, or basin, composed of : 1, the ilium, or flank bone ; 2, 
the pubis, or fore-part of one of the boiles of the pelvis ; 3, the ischium, 
or hinder and lower part of the hip-bone, 

S — The femur, or thigh bone. 

J The patella, or small bone covering the stifle joint — the joint of 

the hind leg near the flank. 

y The tibia, or large, long bone between the hock and the stifle joint. 

Y The fibula, the small, long bone behind and attached to the tibia. 

W The hock, or that joint of the hind leg between the stifle-joint and 

the fetlock, embracing the following small bones: 1, the os calcis, or 
back point of the hock; 2, the astragalus, or upper bone of the hock 
that supports the tibia; 3, the cuneiform magnum, or largest wedge- 
shaped bone ; 4, the cuneiform medium, or middle-sized wedge-shapod 
bone ; 5, the cuneiform parvum, or smallest wedge-shaped bone ; 6, that 
small bone of the hock having a somewhat cubical form. 

X Large metatarsal, the front bone of the hind leg, between the hock 

and the pastern joint, below which are 1, 2, 3, the phalanges of the hind 

leg. 

Y. The small metatarsal, or small bone of the hind leg in rear of large 

metatarsal. 

Z The head, embracing: 1, the inferior maxilla, or lower jaw; 2, 

the superior maxilla, or upper jaw ; 3, anterior maxilla, or outer part of 



ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTIOX. 41 

the jjuv ; 4, the nasal l)one, or l)one in front of the nostrils ; 5, the ma- 
lar, or prominent cheek-l)one ; 6, the frontal or forehead bone ; 7, parie- 
tal, the sides and upper part of the skull hones — (wall bones) ; 8, occi- 
pital, the bone of the hinder part of the head ; 9, the lachrymal, or bone 
inclosing the lachrymal gland and duct ; 10, the squamous, or scaly por- 
tion of the temporal bones; 11, the petrous, or hard part of the tem- 
l)oral bones inclosing the organs of hearing. 

To summarize, the spine is divided into cervical, dorsal, and lumbar 
vertebrne, or joints, in all, thirty-one; the tail contains about seventeen 
joints ; the dorsal vertebrie, with eighteen ribs attached on each side, and 
the breast-bone (which is not show^n in the figure), form the thorax, or 
cavity inclosing the heart, lungs, &c., — thirty-seven bones ; the fore part 
is made up of forty bones, taldng both sides together ; the pelns, or 
basin, of three bones ; the remainder of the hinder part, of thirty-eight 
bones ; the cranium of ten ; the face and loAver jaw of eiijhteen ; of 
teeth there are forty (in the male) ; the small bones of the internaf 
car, taking both, are eight ; and the hj'oid, or tongue bone, consists of 
five parts. 

It is not the province of this work to enter into minute anatomical de 
scriptions ; and for all really practical purposes the foregoing will b(^ 
found ample. 

It must however be borne in mind that a thorough study of the anatom r 
and frame work of the animal is absolutely necessary to a perfect under- 
standing of how to breed, rear, care for, break and train an animal. Av 
the same time, neither the horse breeder, trainer, or driver, needs to un 
derstand them so critically as must the veterinarian. The one repuire-' 
simply a general knowledge of the several parts, the other must under 
stand intimately and critically each and every part, not only in itself but 
with reference to its bearing and influence on, and relation to other parts 
of the hody. Thus what we give in illustration, Avhile not going into mi- 
nutia such as would be necessary to make the veterinary expert, will be 
fully sufficient for the instruction and every day use of the practical man, 
whether lie be breeder, trainer, or simply the gentleman who drives for 
pleasure. 



42 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 







'A 

l-l 

a 

D 

H 

3 

o 

6 



ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTIOX. 



43 



Explanations. — 1 — IL'hc occiput, or that part of the skull which forms 
the hind part of the head. 2 — The cerebellum, or hinder and smaller di- 
Tision of the brain. 3 — The cerebrum, or front and larger division of 
the brain. 4 — The nasal membrane, or cartilage between the nostrils. 
5 — The tongue. (5, 6 — eloints of the neck bone, 7, 7, 7, 7 — The spinal 
cord, or marrow. 8 — The pharynx, or cavity bounded by the membrane-' 
ous and muscular walls beneath the base of the skull, into which the 
nose and mouth both open, and which is continuous beloAv the oesophagus. 
9,9, 9 — The tesophagus, or passage through which food and drink go 
into the stomach. 10 — The orifice of the stomach passing through the 
diaphragm. 11 — The pylorus, or the orifice of the stomach through which 
the food passes into the intestines. 12, 12 — The hinder surface of the 
diaphragm, or membrane which separates the stomach and bowels from 
the heart and lungs. 13, 13 — The trachea, or windpipe. 14 — The lungs. 
15 — The heart, a — The stomach, b — The spleen, or milt, c — The left 
kidney, d — The broad ligament of the uterus or womb, with the left por- 
tion, and the ovary or that part which contains the seed displayed, e — The 
rectum, or terminal portion of the large intestines, f — The anus, g, h, 
i, j, k, 1 — Internal muscles of the thigh. 




Fig. 3. Vertical Section of Horse's Head. 



This cut illustrates still more fully the structure of the head and its 
contents, a — The frontal bone, showing sinus or channel beneath, b — 
The parietal or wall bone, covering the brain, c — The nose bone, d — 
The occipital or back head bone, e, e — The Atlas, or first bone of the 
neck, showing the spinal marrow in its center. f~The ethmoid or sieve- 
like bone, through which the olfactory or nerve of smelling passes, g — 
The sphenoid or wedge-like bone, which, with the ethmoid, supports the 
base of the brain, h — Part of the lower maxillary or jaw bones, with 
the lower incisor teeth. 1 — The cerebrum, or larjre brain. 2, — The cere- 
bellum, or small brain. 3 — The medulla oblongata, or upper portion of 



44 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



the spinal marrow. 4 — The spinal marroAv. A — The turbinated bones, 
or thin, bony plates, in the form of a scroll or horn, found in the jius- 
trils, and servin^y; to give wider distrilmtion to the linino; membrane of the 
nose. B — The septum nasi, or cartilaginous division between the two nos- 
trils. C, C — The lips. D. The tongue. E — The epiglottis, or valve of 
the larynx. F — ^The trachea, or windpipe. G — The Eesophagus or gullet. 

It vs'ill be observed that the great object in the formation of the cran- 
ium, that of furnishing a firm cover and a sure protector of the brain 
against all ordinary accidents, is secured by the employment of nine 
bones, arranged in this manner : The two frontal bones (a), make up the 
anterior or forward part; the parietals (b), comprise the upper and cen- 
tral parts, and cover the outer lobes of the cerebrum ; the occipital bone 
(d), a single bone of great solidity, is at the back of the head; a little 
lower, and back of the occipital bone, is the aperture through whicJi 
the spinal cord, together with some nerves and an artery, make their exit 
from the brain. Here the bone is smooth and rounded for the purpose 
of jointing Avith the atlas, the first bone of the neck. The sphenoid bone- 
(g), forms the inferior and central part of the cranium. The ethmoid 
(f ). through which the olfactory nerve passes, together with the sphenoid, 
as /loted above, assists in upholding the l)ase of the brain. In proximity 
to the facial bones are found sinuses bearing names derived from their 
nearness to particular bones. 

The temporal bones forming the sides of the cranium are composed of 
two parts, the squamous, or scaly, and the petrous, or stone-like. Th^a 
petrous portion of the temporal Ijone contains the organs of hearing, 
having upon its inside surface the openings for the passage of the auditory 
ner /e ; and upon its outside, large passages for the conveyance of sound. 





Fig. 4. Front and back view of 
the bones of thl foot. 



Fig. 5. Sectional view op the 

BONES OF the FOOT. 



ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION. 



45 




Fig. 6. 



Vertical Section of the Foot 
AND Lower Leg. 



Figs. 4 and 5, taken in connec- 
tion, will serve to give the reader still 
more definite knowledge than that 
f^onveyed by the skeleton of the rela- 
tive situation of the different parts of 
the horse's foot, and the terms applied 
to each. The bones exhibited in the 
front and back view, Fig. 4, are : c, c 
— The coffin bone, or first bone of the 
leg. d — The sessamoid bone, b, b 
— The small pastern, a, a — The large 
pastern. 

The parts exhibited by Fig. 6 are : 
a — The large metacarpal or cannon 
bone, b — The os suffraginis, or large 
pastern bone. c — One of the ses- 
samoid bones, d — The os coronse, or 
small pastern bone. e — The navic- 
ular bone. f — The os pedis, or cof- 
fin bone, g, g, g — The flexor perfor- 

ans, or penetrating tendon, h, h — The flexor perforatus, or penetrated 
tendon, i — The extensor tendon, j — The suspensory ligament, k, k — 
The capsular ligament, or membraneous elastic bag surrounding the joint. 
1 — The fetlock joint, m — The pastern joint, n — The coffin joint. O: — 
The horny crust, p, p — The horny sole, q — The frog. r. — The sensible 
laminae, t — The sensible frog, u — The cushion. v — The navicular 
joint. 

It will be observed that the parts exhibited by Fig. 5 are plainly named on 
the engraving. Every thoughtful reader will observe further that these parts 
of the horse are most wonderfully put together. The delicate and well- 
adapted mechanism is not surpassed by that of any mechanical combination 
ever produced. The entire structure is one that secures the utmost elasticity 
and freedom of movement, with the immense strength needed in the usual work 
of the horse. An understanding of this must go far toward compelling care 
and attention in all that pertains to the foot of the animal. Shoeing, and 
especially service on rough, stony places, should be subjects of constant regard. 

The next cut furnishes a beautiful and comprehensive vicAv of the term::; 
applied to the various parts of the animal, and it can but prove of ^refit 
use to those who would not only "talk horse" themselves, but understand 
the talk of others — especially of veterinar}'- writers when treating of dis- 
orders, their location, and the proper means for their relief. As these parts 
are known among all veterinary writers of any prominence, by the names re- 



46 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



spectively given to them here, it is evident that in order to intelligently com 
prehend the directions, not only of this work, but of any other worthy author- 
ity, the reader should be perfectly familiar with the " Points" of the horse as 
given in this illustration. 




Fig. 7. Extkknal Tar is of the Horse. 



Explanation. — 1. The muzzle. 2 — The face. 3 — The forehead. 4 — 
The poll. 5— The crest. 6— The jowl. 7~The gullet. 8— The wind- 
pipe. 9 — Point of the shoulder. 10 — The breast. 11. — The arm. 12 
—The elbow. 13— The girth. 14— The flank. 15— The sheath. 16— 
The stifle. 17— The withers. 18— The back. 19— The loins. 20— 
The hip. 21— The croup. 22— The dock. 23— The quarter. 24— The 
thigh or gaskin. 25 — The hamstring. 26 — Thepoint of hock. 27 — The 
hock, (hough) 28 — The cannon bone of hind leg, 29 — The fetlock. 30 
— The large pastern. 31 — The small pastern. 32 — The coronet. 33 — 
The hoof . 34— The knee. 35— The cannon ot lore leg. 36— The fet- 
lock. 37 — The heel. 38 — The large pastern. 39 — The small pastern- 
40— The hoof. 



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mow ton ' 



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CHAPTER III. 
HOW TO TELL A HORSE'S AGE. 



A KNOWLEDGE OF CHANGES IN THE TEETH THE ONLY MEANS. THIS CHAPTER TO BE 

STUDIED IN CONNFXTION WITH THE ACCOMPANYING CUAKT. BUYERS LIKELY, WITH- 
OUT THIS KNOWLEDGE, TO BE DECEIVED. INCISORS CHIEFLY TO BE RELIED ON. 

CONDITION OF A FOAL'S MOUTH. THE CHANGES THAT FOLLOW. HOW FOAL TEETH 

ARE TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM HORSE TEETH. WEARING AWAY OP THE GRINDER OR 

ENAMELLED PORTION. NUMBER OF TEETH IN A FULL-GROWN ANIMAL. DIFFERENCE 

BETWEEN HORSES AND MARES AS TO NUMBER. INCISORS, HOOKS, AND ''WOLF'S TEETH.'" 

HOW TO DETERMINE AGE TILL FOAL IS TWO YEARS OLD. HOW FROM TWO TO OLD 

AGE. THE HORSE OF MEDIUM SIZE TO BE TAKEN AS A STANDARD. SHOOTING UP AND 

GRINDING OFF. IRREGULAR TEETH ; HOW TO JUDGE. PECULIAR HARDNESS OF BONES 

AND SLOWNESS OF CHANGE IN CERTAIN BREEDS. THE MULE; AGE HARD TO FIND OUT 

WITH EXACTNESS. DECEPTIONS ; HOW TO DETECT. CRIB BITERS ; HOW TO EXAMINE. 

TERMS DEFINED. 

The age of a horse is to be accurately determmed only by an examina- 
tion of the teeth, with a knowledge of the changes which, from time to 
tnne, take place in them. The follo^\ing directions, studied in connec- 
tion wdth the drawings exhibited on the accompanying chart, and the ex- 
planations written under them, will enable any one of ordinary acuteness 
and powers of observation, to judge for himself, and thus to avoid that 
most common of all the jockey's impositions, a liability to be deceived 
in the age of horses held for sale. 

The incisors furnish the chief indications ; and to them the attention 
must be mostly directed ; but the back and hook teeth should be observed 
to some extent, as their condition may occasionally serve to correct and 
more frequently to corroborate the indications of the incisors. 

When first foaled , the colt has no incisors . Twelve back teeth have in 
most cases forced their points by this time through the gums ; but it is 
not until from two to three months afterward that the four nippers ap- 
pear ; in six weeks the nippers are seen ; and in about eight months the 
four corner teeth. There are now, at eight or nine months old, twenty- 



48 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

four teeth, (upper and lower), QsMedi foal-teeth . These are all changed 
})y the fifth or sixth year, and those that follow are called horse-teeth. 

The back teeth appear as follows : the three front double pair are seen 
at birth, and are afterward changed ; the fourth double pair appear from 
the eighth to the nhith month ; (this fourth double pair are the first that 
remain stationary, and they are found in every year-old colt) ; the fifth 
double pair, or fifth four, appear in the second or third year ; the sixth, 
usually m the fourth or early in the fifth year. These three double pairs 
of back teeth (last named), remain unchanged, as do also the four hook 
teeth. 

The hook teeth are uncertain as to time of appearance, coming some- 
times at the end of the third year, sometimes in the middle or at the end 
of the fourth, sometimes in the middle or at the end of the fifth, some- 
times at the beginning of the sixth. 

Oljserve particularly that the incisors of the foal differ from those of 
the horse : (1) By their regular, conical formation; (2) by a narro\v 
contraction called the neck, visi])le almost in the center of the body of 
each tooth, while nothing of the kind is seen in horse-teeth ; (3) by their 
smaller size, even when full groAvn. The milk teeth, (or those teeth 
which are cast or shed), taken from the jaws of dead foals and compared 
with horse-teeth similarl}^ obtained, are found to be o\\\y about half as 
long as the latter. The breadth is not to be depended on, since the milk 
teeth of large foals appear almost as broad as those of small horses. 
When the nippers become horse-teeth, they form a great contrast to the 
middle and corner teeth. The size of these last will at once show them 
to be milk teeth . ( 4 ) By the fact that the outer surface of the foal-teeth 
is smooth and striped with brown, while on horse-teeth the same surface 
is divided by a dirt}^ 3^ellow indentation inclining toward the center, 
which is sometimes double upon the upper teeth. 

One should study the form of the incisors by carefull}^ examining 
those taken from dead horses of different ages. Each incisor will be 
found to consist of a hard, enamelled part, called the grinder, which has 
protruded above the gum ; of a bony su])stance, Avluch has l)een for tlie 
most part hidden in the gum ; and of a root, which has occupied the 
cavity of the jaw-bone. 

These teeth, (of the foal as well as of the horse), are slowly but con- 
tinually worn away by biting and chewing, so that the length is constantly 
decreasing, — sometimes evenly and regularh^ — so that in old age the 
tooth that was once two and a half or three inches long is found to be not 
exceeding half an inch in length. The breadth generally decreases in 
about the same proportion ; but with this difference in foal and horse- 
teeth, that the thickness and breadth of foal-teeth are constantly decreas- 



THE HORSE, HIS AGE, HOW TO TELL IT. 49i 

ing from the grinder or hard enamelled part to the end of the root, while 
horse-teeth decrease from the root upward. The grinder, or hard, grat- 
ing portion of the tooth, which has not yet been used, has somewhat the 
form of an egg ; it is three times as broad as thick, and hollowed out in 
the shape of a funnel, which hollow has two sharp edges inclosing it. 
This socket or hollow is called the tnar-k. In the center of this mark, a 
sort of kernel may be seen — a tube commencing at the end of the root — 
that contains the nerves of the tooth ; but this inner hole must always be 
distinguished from the mark, which is the outer depression, lying next 
to the sharp edges. The inner cavity is a funnel-shaped socket, of hard, 
enamel shell, around which, and inside the outward shell, is a thick fluid, 
which remains during the life of the tooth, becoming, by degrees, gray 
matter. This fluid averages about four lines in depth in the lower incis- 
ors and about eight in the upper ones. 

The outer edge of each incisor always rises a line or two above the 
inner edge ; therefore, when the upper and lower are first grated together, 
cnly the outer edges touch for some time ; and tlie inner edges do not 
tauch until the outer ones are worn down to an equal height with them. 
Ilorse-teeth generally do this in about one year. At the age of two and 
a half, the teeth begin to change, and those which then appear are called 
Ilorse-teeth. (See chart. Fig. 7, A). 

A full grown stallion or gelding has 40, and a mare 36 teeth — the male 
having four hook teeth which are lacldng in the female, except that some- 
times she has imperfect teeth in the corresponding part of the mouth. 
Those teeth found in some young horses, next to the first double teeth, and 
called "wolf's teeth," are not included in this number, as they are not 
real teeth, — frequently not ])reaking through the gums at all, and usually, 
in any case, disappearing in eight or nine years. ' Twenty-four of the 
true teeth, in both horses and mares, are situated in the upper part of the 
mouth, (that is, in both jaws, above the lips). They are divided into six 
double pairs, counting upwards from below, so that those situated next to 
the incisors in all the four rows are first ; those next to them, second; 
and so on to the last pair, which arc called back teeth. 

Twelve others are in the lower part of the mouth, surrounded by the 
lips, six in the upper and six in the lower jaw, standing, each lot, m the 
form of an arch, and occupying the entrance to the hollow of the mouth. 
These twelve are called incisors. The four innermost, two in each jaw^- 
those forming the key of each arch — are called nippers ; the other two isi 
each arch are called corner teeth ; and those bet-Aveen the nippers and the 
corner teeth are called middle teeth. Each of these teeth in the lower 
jaw rubs against the corresponding one in the upper jaw. The teeth of 
the upper jaw are broader and thicker than those of the lower. The four 



50 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

hooks are seated alone, over each corner tooth, but nearer to the corner 
teeth of the upper than those of the lower, so that they, (the hooks ), 
never come m contact with each other. 

The horse has always attained the age of four and a half or five years 
before he has a full number of perfect teeth. Before this time, the^ 
younger the animal the fewer the teeth, and even these are not all perma= 
nent. 

The more a permanent incisor loses in length, by friction, the more it 
also loses in width, so that the nearer the friction surface approaches to 
the root, the narrower and thicker it must appear. 

Every new hook tooth is cylindrical and somewhat hooked, with a cone- 
shaped projecting grinder, and this is surrounded by a spoon-shaped edge, 
turned toward the hollow of the mouth, so that the cone cannot be seen 
from the outside ; and the whole grinder, or hard, enamelled part, has 
the appearance of the back part of the bowl of a spoon — the edge, like a 
screen, surrounding the short cone, but so that two deep furrows remam 
between. Except this grinder, the rest of the body is uniforml}^ round, 
and the surface almost even. As previously said, however, these by 
themselves afford no reliable indication as to age. 

Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 show how the age of a colt may be determined 
till he is two years old. The following further explanations, taken in 
connection with the chart from Fig. 7 to Fig. 46, inclusive, will teach 
how the age, from two to thirty, can be ascertained. 

Large horses have, of course, larger teeth than small ones ; but taking 
a horse of medium size as a standard, one can make allowances for either 
larger or smaller, and easily arrive at just conclusions. 

The incisors being our main reliance, our remarks must be understood 
to refer chiefly to them. The length of the tooth of a horse of medium 
size is three inches, or thirty-six lines. After the changed tooth has 
arrived at its proper length, it shoots up a line regularly every year, and 
if the teeth stand right, the grinder is worn off a line every year. It is 
also, as has been said, worn off in both width and breadth, so that the 
grinder becomes, from year to year, shorter and smaller, as shoAvnby the 
chart. 

If, however, the teeth stand too far forward, (irregular teeth, see 
chart. Fig. 41), they do not wear down in the same proportion as they 
«hoot upward, and they become very long. The age in this case can be 
ascertained with ease and exactness by obseiwing directions given under 
Fig. 41, and noticing with care the following points : At the age of five 
years, the corner teeth of the lower jaw have grown up five lines above 
the gum ; each middle tooth, seven lines ; and each nipper, nine. At 
eight years, and older, each corner tooth of the same horse projects only 



THE HORSE, HIS AGE, HOW TO TELL IT. 51 

four, the middle teeth, six, and the nippers, eight lines above the gums. 
This is absolutely necessary to be taken into account, because it is the 
only means by which one can decide mth certainty as to the age of a horse 
Avhose teeth have become longer than thej' would have been if set right 
and wearing regularly. 

The foregoing remarks and directions are based upon the assumption 
that there is no peculiarity about the individual animal or the breed to 
which he belongs that would materially interfere with the principles laid 
down. It remains, however, to notice that to those breeds of horses 
which develop very slowty, of which the Spanish horse may be cited as 
an example, the rules are a little more difficult of application. The 
bones of these, and perhaps of some few other Idnds, seem to be harder, 
and the teeth change somewhat later and appear to wear down more 
Hlowly ; so that it sometimes happens that such horses, after their fifth 
year, appear a year or two younger than they really are ; but the same 
animals are apt to be more than ordinarily strong, hardy, and long-lived, 
and to be taken at a diminished age really detracts nothing from their 
worth. 

The age of a mule is somewhat difficult to determine with exactness, 
owing to the cause just stated. 

Deceptions may be practiced with very thrifty young horses, Avhen it is 
desirable to make them appear of suitable age for work or for breeding, 
by knocking out the incisors a year sooner than they would naturally 
change themselves. If a purchasei' suspects deception, he can determine 
the matter by closely examining the remaining teeth. If the nippers 
have changed, and the inner edges of the corner teeth have not yet come 
into contact, the foal is but one year old — and so on. 

The opposite cheat — that of trying to make a horse appear younger 
than he really is by burning artificial marks in upon the teeth — can be 
detected by closely examining the enamel and the effect of the mark 
upon it. When a horse has reached an advanced age, say twelve to 
twenty, the enamelled surface has become so minute that burning in as 
large a mark as is found in horses considerably'^ 3^ounger would disturb 
the whole enamel and so leave a means of detecting the fraud. 

In the case of crib-biters, that wear out their teeth prematurely, and 
so appear really older than they are, examination must be directed to the 
corner teeth, which are seldom injured ; or, if the corner teeth prove to 
be injured, deduct from the apparent age as man}' lines as are wanting to 
make the teeth of the natural length. To feed constantly, from weaning 
time, upon hard, unshelled corn, sometimes produces the same effect as 
crib-biting, and the same directions must be followed in forming an 
estimate. 



52 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

We close the chapter with a short vocabulary, by reference to whiclij 
the reader may more readily apprehend the meaning of the terms 
employed in the ensuing chart. 

Incisor. — A cutter ; a fore-tooth which cuts or bites. In the horse, 
those twelve teeth, six in the upper jaw, six in the lower, which are 
surrounded by the lips, are called incisors. 

Grinder. — As used in the present chapter, it denotes the hard, grating, 
upper portion of the front teeth. 

Line. — One-twelfth of an inch. 

Mark. — As used with reference to horse teeth, it denotes that depres- 
sion in the grinder lying inside the sharp edges and adjacent to them. 

Nippers. — Those two teeth in each jaw that occupy the middle of the 
semi-circular row. 

Corner Teeth. — The two outer of the six front teeth in each jaw. 

Middle Teeth. — The teeth between the nippers and the corner teeth. 

Hooks. — Four teeth, two in each jaw, situated over corner teeth, or 
beyond the incisors, reckomng from the front of the lips, and having a 
• cylindrical and somewhat hooked shape. 

Milk Teeth. — The front teeth of a foal which appear at about three 
months of age and are cast withiu two or three years. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DIFFERENT BREEDS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 



I. THE INFERIOR VARIETIES: MANY FOUND IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. SOME GOOD, BUT 

LITTLE KNOWN OF THEM. II. SOME CONSIDERED AS TO WORK RATHER THAN BREED; 

THE FARM HORSE; THE HUNTER; THE HACKNEY; HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAFT. III. 

THE ARABIAN. IV. THE BARB. V. THE ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED. VI. THE 

PERSIAN. VII. THE TURK. VIII. THE TURKOMAN. IX. THE EGYPTIAN. X. 

THE DONGOLA. XI. THE NORMAN PERC HERON. XII. THE THOROUGHBRED IN AMER- 
ICA. XIII. THE MORGAN. XIV. THE NARRAGANSETT PACER. XV. THE CANA- 
DIAN. XVI. THE CONNBSTOGA. XVII. PONIES. 

I. The Inferior and Little Known. 

Among the great variety of horses there are many that are either of 
inferior importance or so little known that it is deemed unnecessary to 
notice them in detail. India, China, Japan, Siam, several of the Euro- 
pean States, and North and South America, have horses that are in some 
instances widely different from each other, as well as from the approved 
breeds ; but they are not known to possess any remarkable excellence, or 
any distinctive points that are constantly reproduced in their offspring, — 
80 that a mere casual reference to them, with very general statements as 
to qualities and characteristics, is considered to be sufficient. 

In India alone there are various stocks, known to have been so lon<r in 
the various regions of that great country as to seem native to the soil ; 
but with the exception of the Turko, recognized to be a cross between 
the Turkoman or South Tartary breed and the Persian, they are reo-arded 
as cold blooded and inferior. The Turko is said to carry himself in a 
grand and stately way, and to be both beautiful and tractable. 

The Tartar and Calmuck horses, with the exception of the Turkoman, 
which is described elsewhere in this chapter, are for the most part small 
and ill-made. They are hardy, however, being able to perform great 
journeys, with burdens disproportioned to their size, and to live on the 
poorest fare. 

4 53 



54 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The horses of China are small, and have no pomts of excellence as tu 
either shape or spirit. 

The horses of Turkestan have been described by some as ha^ang heavv 
heads and ewe-necks, Avith long legs and a scant;^ body ; while others 
speak of high crests and long, bony bodies, and assert these horses 
crossed with those of Persia, produce magnificent animals — elegant, 
active, strong, and larger than the best Arabians. In Bokhara is a breed 
of small and shaggy but stout horses, called Kussaks, which has attracted 
some attention. Their manes and tails are long as compared with theii 
general make up. 

Belo-ium, Holland, and the German states have breeds of horses noted 
only, or chiefly at least, for being large, strong, and well-formed, and 
admirably adapted to purposes of heavy draft. 

In the forests of Sweden, Finland, and Norway is found a race of 
horses in a half wild state, from which the inhabitants, Avithout taking 
upon themselves the trouble of breeding and rearing, supply themselves 
when the creatures are wanted for use. They are small, but well-formed 
active, and spirited. 

The Hunoarian horse, though evidently of the same origin as those of 
Germany, is somewhat lighter than they, and possesses more spirit and 
action. He shows some sign^ of oriental blood, to which he probably 
owes his superiority to his neighl:)ors. 

The horses of Iceland run at large and pick up their own scanty fare, 
wherever they can find it, until they are needed l)y the inhabitants, when 
they are caught and subjected to use. The origin of these animals is in 
doubt. Some assert that their progenitors were carried into that island 
from the forests of Sweden ; others, that the}^ were of the stock of 
ponies found in the Scottish isles. They are small, but active, and gen- 
erally well disposed. 

The horses of Italy were formerl}^ much better than now. Few of 
them may at present be regarded as possessing any striking excellence. 
There are said to be some, among the people of Naples, that are large, 
of fine appearance, and excellent as carriage horses. 

The French people have many breeds, adapted to the saddle, the light 
carriao-e, cavalry, and light artillery, besides those that are required for 
the plow and the cart. The most famous among them is the Norman, 
or Norman Percheron, which is described elsewhere in this chapter. 

The fact is well established that the horses of Spain, previous to the 
Moorish conquest, were possessed of many noble qualities ; but they 
were much improved by a mixture of Barb blood, consequent upon the 
invasion and the introduction of horses from the Barbary States. They 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 56 

still show both their original and derived excellences ; and a pure-blood 
Spanish Barb is a fine and beautiful creature. 

In the plains of South America, Mexico, Texas, and the Western 
Territories of the United States are found great herds of wild horses, of 
which there are different varieties, though they must have had a common 
origin, as we have stated in Chapter I. Chance mixture with horses 
imported into the countr}^ subsequently to those brought from Spain, 
together with the influences of different climates and food to which they 
have long been subject, may perhaps account for this. The most marked 
types of these wild Americans are the Mustang and the Indian ponies, 
which are noticed on succeeding pages. As a general thing they retain 
the striking characteristics of their old Spanish or Andalusian progenitors ; 
in size, shape, and spirit they show m hence they are derived. Their 
heads are pretty and their limbs clean. They are capable of great 
endurance ; and though not especially rapid in action, it is related of 
them that they are sometimes ridden at the rate of ten or twelve miles 
an hour for a stretch of eighty miles, without anything more than a 
temporary halt and such little food as could be hastily eaten. Seldom is 
any gait known among them except a walk and a lope ; but an occasional 
pacer is discovered. Many of them do well for the saddle ; but care is 
required in handling them. In the hands of the cruel or inconsiderate, 
their mid nature returns to them, and they become intractable and even 
dangerous. 

II. Some Considered as to Work, rather than Breed. 

In treating of the different stocks and specifying distinguishing points, 
it is perhaps not amiss to consider some characteristics that should mark 
animals chosen or set aside for special purposes. And yet in this considera- 
tion it must not be forgotten, that very few horses, comparatively, are kept for 
but one class of duties. Few horses are for the saddle exclusively, as compared 
with those who render service in harness at times, as well as under saddle. 
And so with other grades of horses. A varied work is usually required, and 
especially so anjong farmers, and the well-to-do residents of cities and villages. 

The goodyarw2 horse cannot, of course, be confined to any particular 
breed. If he combines within himself certain desirable qualities, it is 
not pertinent to inquire particularly what l)lood he carries. Some points 
that should distinguish him may be thus enumerated : He should bo 
close-built and strong, but not gross and clumsy, since he is to serve as jv 
sort of horse of all work — doing dut}', by turns, under the saddle, and 
before the plow, the farm-wagon and the carriage. 



56 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 







A Good Horse for Light Driving. 







A Good Horse for ai.t. Work. 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 57 

Fifteen to sixteen hands mark the proper stature ; and his limbs should 
be sinewy without absolute heaviness, while his feet should be of medium 
size. He should be reasonably springy under the saddle, and active, 
without dash, in light harness. To these he should add a certain thriftiness, 
that will enable him to appear Avell even under good, close work, if well 
treated ; and in temper he should be mild. His breaking in and training 
should have been such as to render him readily adaptable to any work 
that he may be called upon to perform about the country home. 

The hunter, or horse for the chase, speaking ^vith reference to a 
pastime which is still common in England, but to which little or no 
importance is attached in this country, is usually the better esteemed for 
having some blood, but more for the absoliite feats of speed and leaping 
which he may be able to perform, and for his ability to stand a hard 
day's run. 

The best hunters are said to be a combination of the thorough-bred 
with some coarser animal — producing more strength, substance, and 
hardihood, with less length of body. He is at the present time what 
may be called three-quarters bred ; and he is lighter and more fleet than 
formerly. 

The engraving upon the page next following, entitled "A light hunting 
horse," conveys an excellent idea of what this horse is now most commonly 
found to be. 

That is to say, a horse of good style and form, capable of long con- 
tinued exertion under the weight of an ordinary sized man, and also 
capable of showing as high a rate of speed as possible, combined with an 
aptitude to leap successfully such obstacles as may ordinarily interpose 
In all this class of horses, whether they be light or heavy weight animals, 
blood — that is, the possessor of a fair amount of thorough blood as trans- 
mitted by thoiough-bred sires — is absolutely necessary. It gives style, 
form, hard and fine bones, muscular tissue, lung power, and all this 
means endurance to perform feats under which the cold blooded horse 
would soon succumb. Such a horse as the engraving shows will not only 
make a capital saddle horse, but also a most valuable horse for general 
utilit}^ if properly broken, good for the light carriage and buggy and 
good also at a load if properly trained and handled ; but let it always be 
remembered that in as much as 3''ou put a saddle horse, and es^Decially a 
hunting horse, to labor, you detract from his value in the field. This is to be 
regretted possibly, especially by those of somewhat limited purse, but such is 
i\\e fact nevertheless. The best work in many lines cannot be had at one and 
the same time from one and the same animal. Excellence in some points 
necessitates unfitness elsewhere. 



58 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



During the last century, however, and the first of this, it was deemed 
Rssentiafthat he should be a heavier horse — an animal capable of maldng 







prodigious leaps while carrying a heavy weight. This tj-pe is well repre- 
sented by the subjoined cut of "A heavier hunting horse." 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



59 



The Hackney, as the horse of ail saddle and light harness purposes, the 
common roadster, or general knock-about, is termed in England, may be 
considered in pretty nmch the same light as the good farm-horse pre- 




viously noticed. Among the English people it seems to be essential that 
an animal must at least be supposed to possess some blood before he can 
be considered a good hackney. When known, or believed, to have a 



60 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



streak of the thorough-bred in him, and to possess the following charac- 
teristics, nothing more is desirable : 

He must be about fifteen hands high ; both his fore and hind parts 
must be strong and well muscled ; he should be short in the back and 
well coupled; his chest should be wide and deep, allowing full play for 




the lungs ; his head should be light and his neck carried well up ; his 
limbs should be clean and bony, and with somewhat oblique pasterns ; he 
should be quick and springy ; and in temper he should be kind and easily 
controlled. 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



61 



Of Heavy Draft Horses there are several breeds in both England and 
the United States ; or rather, several kinds that have some of the blood and 
some of the characteristics of the old heavy draft animals. When it 
became the fashion in England to seek admixture with the heavy marefe 
and stallions of Belgium or Flanders, the English draft stock was really 
much improved, though several English breeds soon lost thereby, for the 
most part, their identit3\ 




The Cleveland Bay, a powerful horse, though not of extraordinary 
«ze, was found chiefly in the four Counties of Yorkshire, Durham, Lin- 
colnshire, and Northumberland. He was capable of carrying a great 
tveight, and of maintaining under it a rapid rate of speed. A lighter horse, 
and one better adapted to the carriage, was produced by crossing the 



62 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Cleveland mare with a good-sized thorough-bred stallion. The best 
hunters and hackneys, having an arched crest and proud action, were pro- 
duced by crossing the Cleveland mare with a horse lighter than the true 
thorough-breds, yet possessing real spirit and quick movement. The 
Cleveland, as a distinct breed, is nearly extinct. 

The Suffolk Punch is considered to be an excellent heavy draft horse. 
He is believed to be the offspring of the Suffolk cart-mare and the Nor- 
man stallion. When further crossed with the Yorkshire half-bred, (the 
product of the Cleveland Bay and the thorough-bred), he is active, spir- 
ited, and indomitable at a pull. 

The Suffolk, now hardly known as a distinct breed, was a horse of 
good size, being ordinarily from fifteen to sixteen hands high, and V3ry 
stout in proportion. His distinguishing color was sorrel ; he had a large 
head ; his shoulders were thick on top and low ; his chest was round and 
deep ; he had round legs and short pasterns ; his back was long ; his croup 
high ; his flanks full ; his quarters heavy and strong ; and he was every 
way a spirited and determined animal, active and enduring. 

The Clydesdale horse, found principally on the Clyde in Scotland, was 
tile product of certain Scottish mares with Flanders stallions. He is a 
larger horse than the Suffolk, but less clumsy in appearance, as his head 
is better and his barrel lighter. He has a long neck and deep legs ; and 
is strong, hardy, patient, and a faithful puller. Some of the horses in 
the United States said to be of this stock preserve most of these charac- 
teristics, but their bodies are rounder and their necks are not particularly 
noted for length. An extended description will be given farther on. 

Between Lincolnshire and Staffordshire, in the midland counties of 
England, is found what is called the Heavy Black Horse, a large, well- 
built animal, of splendid appearance, and much in demand in London and 
elsewhere as a wagon-horse ; but no horses of this particular kind are 
• known to have been brought to America for breeding purposes. 

Of American heavy draft stock, the Vermont cart-horse is deserving of 
special mention. He is said by one who is considered good authority to 
exist in Vermont and adjacent States as a distinct breed, and to be the 
very model of what a good cart-horse should be — quick and full of power, 
yet easily managed. As a general thing, he has a well-set head, a l^^f cy 
crest, thin withers, mane and tail medium, and clean fetlocks. He has 
sufficient action to insure a good rate of speed, and makes, upon the 
whole, a fine show. 

His origin seems doubtful. There is a pony appearance about him, 
though often more than sixteen hands high — his peculiar shortness of 
back, roundness of body, and general compactness contributing to make 



THE HORSE. DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



63 




64 THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 

him seem much less in bulk than he is found to be by actual measure. 
iii2nt. 

III. The Arabian. 

We come now to notice some of the most distinct, strongly marked, 
and valuable breeds, among which the Arabian, or that species of the 
Arabian best known to us, is justly celebrated. 

Whether the present pure blood Arab is native to Arabia or imported ; 
Whether of recent origin or of a lineage as ancient as the sculptured ruins 
of Nineveh and Babylon, it is needless to inquire ; but the people of that 
country claim that they have authentic pedigrees reaching back for more 
than two thousand years ; while on the other hand, it is asserted by some 
who have tried to discover the real origin of this famous stock that prior 
to the thirteenth century the horses of Arabia were a poor race and lightly 
esteemed. Be that as it ma}^ the horse of the present day, so 
renowned throughout the world, undoubtedly began to attract notice some 
five or six hundred years ago, since which time he has grown into his 
great repute ; and now the best horses of most civilized lands are 
thought to derive their highest claims to noble descent from the Arabic 
Kochlani, and those of his congeners that have shared his excellences. 

In a subsequent chapter the subject of breeding will be appropriately 
treated : but we may advert here to a singular fact in connection with the 
sons of the desert and the horse that shares their name and their affec- 
tions. So thoroughly are the principles of breeding understood among 
them, or such is their extraordinary care, (and perhaps climatic influence 
may have something to do with it) , that their horses long since reached 
a degree of perfection unrivalled in any country, and this perfection is 
steadily maintained. 

Travelers differ as to the number and names of the distinct breeds of 
horses which are found in Arabia ; but a comparatively recent Mohamme- 
dan ^vriter, who seems to have had more than ordinary opportunities for 
knowing the facts in the ease, has stated that there are six distinct breeds, 
which he names and characterizes thus : 

(1) The Dgelfe, found chiefly in Arabia Felix, seldom seen at Damas- 
cus, but common in the neighborhood of Anaze. Horses of this breed 
are of lofty stature, have narrow chests, but are deep in the girth, and 
their ears are long. They are remarkable for spirit and fleetness, but are 
exceedingly tractable, and their ability to endure hunger and thirst is a 
remarkable feature. A two-year-old colt, he says, will cost in his own 
country two thousand Turkish piasters. 

(2) The Secaloni, a breed from the eastern part of the desert, some- 
what inferior to the Dgelfe, though resembling him m most points. 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 65 

(3) The Mcfki, he mforms us, is a handsome horse ; but he is not so 
fleet as either the Dgelfe or the Secaloni. In figure, he bears a resem- 
blance to the Spanish or Andalusian stock. 

(4) A fourth breed is called the Sabi, which is similar to the Mefki, 
but seems to possess no specially useful or striking qualities. 

( 5 ) The Fridi . This breed is very common ; but they are often vicious 
and untrustworthy, and lack some of the excellent qualities possessed by 
the best of the others. 

(6) The Nejdi, found chiefly in the region of Bussorah. These are 
said to be at least the equals of the Dgelfe and the Secaloni. Some 
judges assert that there is no horse to be compared with them, and they 
stand very high in the market. 

This writer considers the Dgelfe and the Nejdi to be the most valuable. 
They are known to be the favorites of the horse-fanciers of India, many 
tine animals of these stocks having been carried thither by the sportsmen 
of that comitry. 

Other writers make mention of but three distinct breeds, to which they 
attril)ute names different from those above given ; and it is difficult to 
reconcile the statements of the two, and to determine whether they have 
really agreed in any way in pointing out the same animal, though by 
diverse names, as possessing the striking excellences which have made a 
certain breed famous and well known to us. Writers of the latter class 
speak of an inferior race, little esteemed, at home or abroad, wliich they 
call the Attechi. These are sometimes found in a wild state. Then come 
the Kadischi, a sort of half-breed stock, possessing some points of resem- 
blance to the true blood, and being sometimes imposed upon dealers for 
the genuine. Finally, they describe a superb race, the pure descendants 
of some extraordinary ancestors, and these the}'^ call the Kochlani or 
Kaillian. The best of them are found among the Shammar and Aneyza 
tribes. The Arabs themselves pretend to trace the Kochlani back to the 
days and the stables of Solomon. While this cannot be credited, it is 
known that some of them have written pedigrees for at least four hundred 
years, kept with the most extreme care, and always on the side of the 
mare. These animals are sometimes sold to foreigners; but they bear 
almost fabulous prices, and it is believed to be a very rare thing for a 
true Kochlani to fall into the hands of a stranger. 

The striking points of the pure Arab may be thus stated : In size, 
he is considerably smaller than the modern thorough-bred, scarcely ever 
exceeding in height fourteen and a half hands. His head is extraordinary 
for its beauty, — the forehead being broad and square, the muzzle short 
and fine, so that some of them seem as though they could really "stick 
their noses into a tumbler." The face, upon which the veins appear 



66 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. '67 

beautifully coursed, is bony; the nostrils are wide; the well-set ears 
are small, while the eyes are large, prominent and brilliant. The necK, 
rising beautifully from the shoulders, and well arched, is very Unc ; the 
withers are high and moderately thin ; the shoulder, inclining backward, 
is perfect in form and position — muscular as well as finely shaped. The 
body is light and narrow before ; but behind the arms the chest is 
expanded and affords sufficient capacity for the lungs ; the hips, though 
somewhat narrow, are well united to the back, and the quarters are 
strong, muscular, and well set. The legs are small, flat, sinewy ; the 
pasterns are oblique in their position ; the croup is liigh, while the tail is 
set on with considerable arch. The muscles of the arm, like those of 
the ham, are full and strong. The bones of the leg are large in propor- 
tion to the size, there being no superfluous fatty matter, l)ut full, free, 
strong, and clean tendons and suspensory ligaments. The hocks are 
large, l^ut free from both curbs and spavins ; while the feet are small and 
sound. The elbow joint is prominent but fine, and gener'ally plays clear 
of the bod}'. 

Especially does the Arab differ from other breeds in the superior 
fineness of his muzzle ; the somewhat hollowed but graceful face ; the 
fully developed jaws that yet give no impression of heaxdness ; the beau- 
tifully pricked and exquisite shape of the ear ; the conspicuous neatness 
of the leg below the knee ; and the beautiful make of the hind quarters. 
The fleetest among them are also noted for a straight-dropped hind leg, 
which is always regarded as a good point. A true Arabian has been 
described as "looking the gentleman all over, with a bearing as stately 
as that of an autocrat." 

In spirit he is as noble as in his physical formation. Though kmd and 
docile when with his native master, he is sensitive and full of spirit, and 
when excited is so indomitable that he would run or pull to the death 
rather than yield. With a cruel master he is apt to become in a measure 
ungovernable ; but his intelligence is such that proper treatment will soon 
win his confidence and remove a vicious habit. 

His sagacity is as remarkable as his susceptibility to kind treatment. 
Instances are not wanting in which his master, overcome by the heat of 
the desert, and lost in a lethargic sleep, has been watched over by hia 
faithful animal, and guarded from the approach of man and beast. 

The colors mostly prevalent among them are bay, gray, and chestnut. 
Occasionally a black is found. 

He is not so swift as the best English, French, and American coursers , 
nor is it here that his great excellence must be sought. That arises from 
a comliination of qualities, to some of which the best of other breeds are 
wholly strangers. 



68 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOE. 

He is peculiarly adapted to that waste and barren country, and to the 
uses for which he is prized by the wandering tribes. The food and drink 
upon which he can live and perform great journeys would be wholly inad- 
equate to the keeping of one of ours which we are pleased to call thrifty. 

As has been said, this remarkable stock has long maintained its essen- 
tial purity ; nor does it show, in recent times, any tendency to degenerate. 
Those ffood Arabians that are offered for sale to British residents and 
other horse dealers in the markets of Bengal and Bombay command prices 
ranging from seven hundred and fifty to one thousand dollars ; and it is 
said by travelers that their best mares are seldom if ever sold. 

IV. The Englisli Thorough-bred. 

"We have already referred to different varieties of English horses, some 
of which have had more or less influence upon those of our own country'' ; 
but the most excellent and famous of all is the thorough-bred, or race- 
horse, descended chiefly from imported Arabians, Barbs, and Turks. 
The animal known to-day as the real English thorough-bred is perhaps of 
almost purely eastern origin. His excellences are derived, it is thought, 
from an admixture of various pure breeds, native to those regions to 
which the noblest of the race are indigenous, so far as either history or 
tradition determines. Arabia, Syria, Persia, Turkestan, Nubia, Abys- 
sinia, and the Barbary States, all have breeds closely connected with each 
other, and yet possessing different characteristics ; but the English race- 
horse is a superior animal to any of them ; and his blood cannot now be 
improved by crossing with any known stock. 

There seems to be in him a larger mixture of the Barb than of any 
other breed ; but the earliest and most celebrated importations into Eng- 
land were Arabians. Much attention has long been paid there to the 
improvement of racing stock. The minds of Englishmen were most 
probably turned to this by the accession of the Norman Conquerors ; at 
any rate, soon after the Normans were established in the island, the firs 
Arabian of which any record has been preserv^ed was imported. Thi^^ 
was in 1121, during the reign of Henry I. Then, an authenticated case 
of importation from Arabia took place in the reign of James I. This 
horse was condemned, not having met the popular exiDcctation ; but the 
true value of eastern blood began now to be appreciated, and the White 
Turk was soon brought over ; then a horse known as the Helmesley Turk ; 
soon afterward, Fairfax's Morocco Barb. The interest in the improve- 
ment of racing stock then so actively manifested has never suffered more 
than a temporary abatement, and in no other country than in England 
has such success been attained. During the troublous times consequent 
vpon the overthrow of Charles I. and the accession of the Puritans to 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



69 



power, there seems to have been a declhie ; but a loA-e of racing, and y 
<:orresponding desh-e to produce the best horses for this purpose, was 



> 
a 

w 

o 




revived upon the restoration of Charles II. to the throne. This prince 
himself sent to the east to purchase brood mares and stallions, but ht» 



70 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

iiffected chiefly Barbs and Turks. Many of his wealthier subjects engaged 
in like enterprise on their own private account. 

But the most marked improvement of English stock followed the 
introduction into that country of the Darley Arabian, a fine and vigorous 
stallion imported during the latter part of Queen Anne's reign by one 
Mr. Darley. Several horses of great repute descended from him, of 
which the most noted were Almanzer, Flying Childers, and Bartlett's 
Childers ; and from the Childers, besides- numerous others, of more or 
less celebrity, Childers, Blaze, Samson, Snap, and Eclipse deserve special 
mention. Of the last named, it is recorded that though he was thick- 
winded or what is termed a "roarer," he never lost a race and never 
paid a forfeit ; and that three hundred and thirty-four of his descendants 
proved to be winning horses. 

During the reign of Louis XIV., of France, and when the Arabian 
stock, the descendants of the Darlej^ were already in high repute, a horse 
called the Godolphin Arabian, but which was really a beautiful Barb, of 
excellent spirit and action, was rescued by one Mr. Coke from the igno' 
ble employment of drawing a cart in the streets of Paris, (where his 
striking characteristics seem to have been wholly overlooked), and carried 
to England. He is said to have been about fifteen hands high, of a brown 
color, and to have been distinguished by the height of his crest and for 
round and drooping quarters. From him is descended much of the finest 
racing blood in England. 

We have spoken of the thorough-bred as a pure-blooded horse ; 
and though this ought doubtless to be understood with some limitations, 
as even in the best of the stock there is probably some tinge of old Eng- 
lish and Spanish blood ; yet, such has been the great care bestowed upon 
him that he is regarded as ' ' the eastern horse brought to the very highest 
state of perfection." It is certain that, as previously remarked, he is in 
some respects superior to the best of the original breeds. This has been 
brought about by long continued careful attention to breeding, to feed- 
ing, to all those points, in fact, necessary to the elimination of. vicious 
strains and the preservation and improvement of those qualities that tend 
to the one great end in view — fleetness, with a corresponding power of 
endurance. The climate of England is said to be peculiarly favorable to 
the horse ; and this influence has perhaps contributed something to the 
making of the English racer a pre-eminently fine and much admired 
animal. The following may be regarded as his distinguishing points : 

His chest is his one and only mark of superior strength ; this is wide 
and deep. His body is round, his flanks and belly light. His ears are 
fine ; his eyes prominent ; his nostrils are wide ; his lips are small and 
thin, while he is remarkably wide between the jaws. He has a long and 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 71 

fine neck, to which a thin mane lies close. His withers are uncommonly 
thin and high ; his back is low at the withers, then straight to the haunches. 
Measured from the haunches to the turn of the rump, he is long; from 
the turn of the rump to the tip of the hock he is long and thin. He has 
great power of springing, to force himself forward, by reason of his legs 
standing rather under the body than erect. His buttocks rarely touch 
each other ; his legs below the knee and hock are small , and the cords 
stand out conspicuously. His tail is slight and thin-haired, sometimes 
slightly waved ; the hair of his legs is very line ; he has no fetlock tufts, 
and his hoof is small and cupped. His color is generally bay, In-own, or 
chestnut; his height varies from fifteen to seventeen hands. His coat is 
thnmer and the hair more silky than in common breeds. 

The soundness of feet and legs, and the powers of endurance, which 
characterize the Arab, have been transmitted to the thorough-bred ; and 
while the latter is not himself well suited to heavy harness work, or indeed 
to any of the general purposes of the farmer, animals are often ol:)tained 
by judicious crosses with him which are admirably adapted to various 
uses. He is valued solely for the turf, and for light single draft, 
except, as we have before remarked, for the improvement of the general 
stock of horses by admixture ; and for this latter purpose we are largely 
dependent upon him in America as well as in Great Britain. 

V. The Barb. 

The horse of the Barbary States has long been known for his excellent 
qualities; and he is especially remarkable for fine and graceful action. 
His powers of transmission are great, so that his marked traits are found 
in his descendants at remote periods and after commixture of various and 
inferior breeds. 

He has impressed himself particularl}^ upon the Spanish horse and the 
English racing stock. It is thought that the horses of Spain owe all 
their excellences to Barb blood,, which was brouglit into that country by 
the Moors, at the time of the conquest. 

The Barb is found chiefly in Morocco, Fez, and Tripoli, and with the 
exception of an excellent species found in the kingdom of Bournon, he 
is the only African horse deserving of special mention. The horse of 
Bournon is represented l)y some as being superior to both the Arabian 
and the Barb. 

In addition to what has been said in those sections in which we have 
treated of the Arabian and the thorough-bred, the following description 
of the Barb will be sufficient to convey to the mind of the reader what 
a true horse of this breed really is : 



72 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In height, he is from fourteen to fifteen hands ; his chest is round ; his 
shoulders are broad, but light, and somewhat obliquely sloping ; his 
withers are thin and rather high ; his loins are straight and short ; his 
flanks and ri])s are round and well developed ; his haunches are strong ; 
liis croup is somewhat too long for nice correspondence with the rest of 
the body; his quarters are muscular and full ; his legs are clean, and 
the tendons are clearly marked ; his pasterns, like his croup, are some- 
what too long and slanting, but not so much so as to amount to real 
defect ; and his feet are sound and of good shape. But his head is 
especially beautiful. It is small and lean, while the ears arc of medium 
size and admirably placed. The mane is rather meager ; but the neck 
rises l)oklly from the withers, and gives an impression of ease and grace 
in carriage. 

In spirit and fleetness he is not regarded as the equal of the Arab, 
much less of the real thorough-bred ; ])ut in a certain native vigor and in 
form he is superior. 

VI. The Persian. 

No traveler to whose Avritings w^e have access in this country has 
sufficiently described the horses of Persia to enable us to point out with 
exactness the difference between the inferior and the better breeds that 
are known to exist in that country. The term the Persian liorse is 
ordinaril}' applied to the most excellent of all, which has been celebrated 
for hundreds of 3'^ears longer than the Arabian. At the present da}^, he 
has a large proportion of Arab blood in his veins. As a general thing, 
he is somewhat taller than the Araljians ; and in beauty and speed he is 
their equal ; but his powers of endurance are not so great. 

VII. The Turkish. 

This horse is believed to be descended from the best stock of Arabs, — 
crossed, however, with some breed that has given him greater proportions 
than his ancestors ; at any rate, the Turkish horse of to-day is full 
sixteen hands high, often more ; and he is more muscular than the Arab, 
though still of elegant appearance, clean Ihnbed and active. It is asserted 
by some'that he is descended from Arabs and Persians ; and it is known 
that he possesses many of the best qualities of these stocks. Though 
strong and of sufficient spirit, he is docile, and well adapted to domestic 
uses. 

An arched neck, with a high crest, is a striking characteristic of the 

Sreed. 

VIII. The Turkoman. 

A.8 we have said elsewhere, none of the Tartar breeds except the Turko- 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 73 

man or South Tartary horse are worth}^ to he rated among the bettei' class 
of animals. He is famous for purit}" of blood, for good speed, and for 
M'ondcrful powers of endurance. It is related that one of them has been 
known to travel nine hundred miles, bearing a rider, in eleven successive 
days. He is not really a graceful animal, however, as his head is rather 
large, and his legs are long in proportion to his height, which is from 
fifteen to sixteen hands. 

Other domesticated horses among tlie Tartars arc evidently of the 
same l)reed as the wild horses which are found in various parts of the 
country and in immense numbers, as the characteristics of the wild are 
exhi))ited in a marked manner in the domesticated. Indeed, it is known 
that these wild herds are often drawn upon for recruits when necessity 
drives the inhabitants to add to their stock of serviceable animals. 

All these inferior creatures are small and narrow ; the}^ have long necks, 
apparently weak legs, large heads, and light 1)arrels. The prevailing 
color is a reddish sorrel, with a black stripe along the back. Their 
manes and tails are black, except at the roots, where the hairs preserve 
this reddish cast. Their general appearance is rough and inelegant ; but 
they are of the most hardy nature ; and, contrary to appearance, they 
are rapid travelers. They live and even perform long and arduous 
journeys upon the sparsest and poorest food. 

IX. The Egyptian. 

It is represented by some who have devoted more than ordinary care 
to the study of the origin of breeds, and to the horse in his relations to 
various peoples and countries, that the horse of the ancient Eg}q3tians 
was identical with an inferior race that afterward existed among the 
Assyrians. Some sculptures, found among the ruins of Nineveh, care- 
fully executed and well preserved, portray a horse wholly different from 
that nobler animal carved in other bas-reliefs found in the same ruins. 
He is said to have been the Egyptian horse ; and as thus convejxd to us, 
he was a large and heavy animal, having a coarse and ill-proportioned 
head, but a high crest. 

The modern Egyptian is also of unpleasing aspect. From wheresoever 
derived, he is rough and ugly. Frequently his legs, knees «and neck 
become positive defects ; but a good head is occasionally found. He 
would scarcely be deserving of mention were it not that he is spirited 
and impetuous ; and this, together Avith his weight, renders him valuable 
for heavy cavalry, in which capacity he has won some celebrity. His 
powers of endurance are not great. 

X. The Dongola. 
This horse is also entitled to consideration chiefly upon the ground of 



74 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

his being greatly prized as a war horse. Unlike the Egyptian, however, 
he has not only speed but powers of endurance ; and some have described 
him as both beautiful and tractable. Yet, even those who have had 
opportunities for personal observation do not agree in their descriptions 
and their estimates. One speaks of him as being deficient in substance 
and wanting in stoutnesss ; while another thinks him to possess the 
highest type of symmetry, size, and strength. From another M^e get 
this more particular description : In height, he is full sixteen hands ; 
his body is short ; his neck is long and slim ; he has a fine crest ; and his 
Avithers are high and sharp ; but his breast is narrow, his quarters and 
flunks are flat, and he has a rather ugly back. 

He is found in the kingdom of Dongola and in adjacent regions. 

XI. Wild Horse of America. 

That the horse existed in America at some far distant epoch is undeni- 
able since the fossil remains found prove this conclusively, and progress- 
ing naturally from age to age into more and more perfectly developed 
tyj)es. Yet at the discovery of America at the several points by the 
early navigators, no mention is made of native horses, as would surely 
have been done if such had been known to the Indians. 

America is undoubtedly indebted for her wild or feral horses which 
have roamed the great valleys of the Pacific slope, the immense plains of 
the West and South-west, and the grassy portions of Mexico, to the early 
Spanish adventurers on the Pacific slope, as were the wild horses of the 
great plains and of Texas to the horses abandoned by De Soto when he 
turned his face eastward towards the Mississippi, after having abandoned 
his search for the fotmtain of youth and the new Eldorado. So Mexico 
and the Isthmus were stocked with horses in like manner, for it is futile 
to suppose that the increase of horses escaping from the Spanish conquer- 
ors of South America would have made their way northward through 
interminable and tangled forests, and mountain fastnesses, but that rather 
they would have betaken them to the pampas, which in reality they did. 
Thus in a comparatively short time they covered most areas of country 
with immense droves, in reality as wild and as free as though they had 
always existed there. 

That the facts arc as we have stated, is patent from the fact that the 
produce resembles in many close characteristics the Spanish and Andalu- 
sian horses of the early Spanish adventurers, as did those found wild in 
New Foundland resemble the French horse of that period ; as does the 
Canadian pony of the present day, although diminished in size from insuf- 
ficient food and the inclemencies of the climate through the long 
generations which have passed since their introduction into Acadia in 
1604, and into Canada four years later. 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC 

XII. The Norman Percheron. 



75 



AmoniT the striking and useful breeds, no horse has attracted more 
attention during the last half-century than the Norman Percheron, other- 




wise known simply as the Percheron, — a stock peculiar to La Perche, a 



76' ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

district in France. Volumes have been written respecting this horse, and 
various theories as to his origin and development have been advanced, by inter- 
ested partizans at times, and again by pure lovers of horses who pursued truth 
for truth's sake alone. 

One writer insists that he is descended from what &ome call the primi- 
tive or natural horse, the pure blood Arabian, crossed with a stock of 
heavy draft horses existing in that section, but without historic mention, 
prior to the Crusades, He thinks that after the defeat of the Saracer. 
ihief , Abderame, by Charles Martel, in Vouille, in -which battle a host of 
Saracens perished, the cavalry of the enemy. Oriental horses of marked 
ha:racter, true Arabs, fell into the hands of the French, — thence many of 
these horses were brought by their victorious masters to the districts of 
Normandy and La Perche. Here commixture of blood with a heavier 
horse of excellent quality follow^ed, and the cross resulted in producing 
the now celebrated Percheron. 

The native race referred to is thought by some to have been the old 
war horse of the Normans — heavy, bony and slow — good for cavalry use 
during the days of chivalr}^ when the carrying of a knight and his armor 
required an animal of great strength and powers of endurance. 

Others think that it was a stock of horses then peculiar to Brittany and 
used for draft rather than for war. 

One author asserts that the Percheron is descended from a remote cross 
between the Andalusians (after their commixture with the Morocco Barbs) 
and the Normans ; and this somewhat fanciful reason is given for the 
active agency of man in bringing it about : that the Norman, though pow- 
erful, was too slow for a fully caparisoned knight — the Andalusian or 
Spanish Barb was too light — and a cross was effected for the purpose 
of securing a horse that combined speed with power. 

But it is not within the scope of the present work to enter into minute 
particulars of this kind, nor to indulge in the discussion of mooted points 
that have a merely curious interest. 

Whatever may have been the origin of the ^Fercheron, it is evident!}^ a 
pure race, one capable of producing and reproducing itself unchanged 
through a long succession of years, and without deterioration of qualities 
when like sires are bred to like dams. Even when the Percheron stalhon 
is put to the service of inferior mares, he impresses himself in a remark- 
able manner upon his offspring, transmitting to them his own striking 
characteristics. Percheron mares bred to inferior stallions affect in like 
manner, and in almost equal intensity, their progeny — though the rule is 
that the stallion exerts the greater influence in determining the character 
of the foal. 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



77 




The old Norman stock is said to have transmitted to this race their ex- 
traordinary bone and muscle, while the Arab or Andalusian or whatever 
may have been the cross, give the spirit and action. The Norman has 



78 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

been described as being capable of carrying gi*eat burdens at a reasonable 
rate of speed ; to have been large, comjDact, muscular, and possessing the 
greatest endurance. 

The points of the Percheron may be stated as follows : 

The head is short ; the brow is broad, and has that hollow of profile 
between the eyes and nostrils sometimes known as the dish-face — (in 
this greatly resembling the Arab) ; but the head in general is not heavier 
than seems in keeping with the general massiveness of the frame ; the 
neck is long, well-arched and heavy, but, like the head, not dispropor- 
tioned to the general bulk. The back is short ; they are well ribbed up 
and round barrelled ; their legs are particularly short from the knees and 
hocks downward ; they are heavily haired, but have not such shaggy 
fetlocks and feet as this would seem to indicate ; their sinews are iron- 
like ; and their feet are hard, sound, apparently insensible to disease. In 
height, they are from fourteen and a half to fifteen and a half hands, the 
latter being rather more than the average. Gray is the characteristic, 
almost the only, color. 

For hard work on ordinary fare the Percheron is unequalled ; and his 
energy and endurance are wonderful. He will keep his condition where 
another horse would die . of hard labor and neoflect. Thousrh full of 
spirit, unflinching under even painful effort, he is yet docile. 

In mere speed he is by no means the equal of the thorough-bred ; but 
for quickness of movement at heavy draft he has no rival. Hitched to a 
light carriage or Avagon he is capable of maintaining a good rate of speed 
for a long time together, or of making comparatively short journeys with 
a rapidity that is astonishing. One, carrying a light vehicle and the 
driver, is known to have made 55 3-5 miles over a hilly and difficult road, 
in four hours and twenty-four minutes ; and another, harnessed in like 
manner, is said to have traveled 58 miles and back in tAvo consecutive 
days, without being touched with the whip, occupying four hours and less 
than two minutes going, and four hours, one and a half minutes returning. 

The Percheron of to-day makes an excellent cross with either the Arab 
or the English thorough-bred. For the improvement pf our draft, stock 
in the United States, no other horse is to be compared to him. Bred to 
good mares, this half-breed would partake more of the qualities of the 
sire than of the dam, and the progeny would be almost the equals of the 
pure French horses. Another step, bringing a pure imported stallion to 
the seiwice of these half-breeds, would give us a race of horses for all 
work that would so far excel the ordinary race of scnibs as to seem 
almost like a different sjiecies of animal. 

At Oaklawn, Du Page Co., 111., is one of the largest stud farms of the world, 
and it is devoted exclusively to the Percheron stock. 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 79 

XIII. The Clydesdale Horse. 

The west of Scotland has been long famous for its draught horses. Away 
in the upper wa;'d of Lanarkshire, the progenitors of that noble race of horses* 
so called Clydesdale, from the Vale in which they were originally reared, were 
first brought to the front and made famous throughout the whole of Scotland ; 
so much so that the common work horse of that country is now, to all intents 
and purposes, a Clyde; and many of the Shire Horses of England are deep in 
their blood also. 

Where the originals came from, and how they were bred, are questions that 
have often been discussed in the public press. Tradition, without any founda- 
tion in facts, points to the importation of Flemish Stallions into the above 
ward nearly two centuries ago, by one of the Dukes of Hamilton, who sought 
improvement in his stock. 

Whether such is the case or not, certain it is that by some means or other, 
the farmers in that country possessed a grand lot of brood mares, from which 
the Clydesdales of the present day owe their activity and hardiness. Our own 
opinion is, that they grew up into the state of perfection in which they were 
found about the beginning of the last century, through the judicious mating 
of the home stock, and that up to that time, little or no fresh blood was intro- 
duced. 

The upper ward of Lanarkshire is a wild and somewhat bare country, with 
a thin soil, which, however, is admirably adapted for grazing purposes; the 
farms are small, and the husbandmen who made their livelihood from the 
profits of the soil, were a shrewd and saving race, with a love for their stock 
born in them. Proud of th,eir cattle and horses, and considerably skilled in their 
care, they developed for the district in which they lived, a class specially suited 
to their wants. 

In kine they modelled, as it were, the Ayrshire Cow, and in horses, more 
especially in this particular district, they produced and kept continually im- 
proving the Clyde. Just as on the banks of the Tees, long years ago, there 
existed a grand race of cattle, so on the hills that rise gently away from the 
waters of the Clyde, a class of horses belonged to it, which were associated 
with no other shire or county in Great Britain, till a more enlightened day 
with the aid of the printing press spread their fame abroad, and created for 
them an immense demand. 

Thus we find the horses about the year 1720, when Mr. John Paterson, of 
Lochlyoch, introduced a Flemish Stallion. 

Whether through the introduction of this horse or otherwise, the Lochlyoch 
mares became very famous, and from them, directly or indirectly, most of the 
noted stock of the present day trace their origin. 

From the Lampits mare, a descendant of the above stock, came Glancer 
(335), the horse that may be called the father of the present race of Clydes- 
dales. 



80 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In a table compiled for the " Clydesdale Horse Society " it is astonishing to 
see the influence that this horse has wielded. Without any system, most of 
the breeders were ignorant that such a horse ever existed, till the herculean 
labors of Mr. Dykes, secretary to the above society, ferreted out all these facts. 

It is most interesting to study the relationships of the various crack }iorses 
of the present day. 

Wherever you begin, the pedigree by some means runs into Glancer (335). 

Gradually, but surely, from those wild uplands, Clydesdales have spread, as 
it were, over the whole world. 

They found, early in this century, a congenial home amid the richer soils of 
Galloway, and while thriving there, they obtained even a greater notoriety on 
the bare hillsides of Kintyre. 

Branching out thus, they spread over all Scotland, reaching some favored 
spots in England, and within later years they have found their way to America 
and Australia, where they are as much prized as upon their native heath. 

In the Antipodes, they have no rival, but in the United States they come 
into competition with the " Percherons." 

The inherent value of the Clydesdale lies in his reproducing powers. Bred 
for generations among themselves, ofttimes bred in and in, they are most im- 
pressive, and put upon the common mares of this continent, the produce is a 
splendid farmer's horse, while those animals which have two or three crosses 
of this blood, are becoming exceedingly valuable for draying in towns, and, 
owing to their special fitness for heavy work, at the present moment the demand 
far exceeds the supply. 

The indications are, that the Clydesdales and Percherons will gradually 
Ibecome the work horses of America. 

Farmers who in olden times (and, we are sorry to say, even in these days), 
merely scratch their land, have no use for either of those breeds, but as 
a^-riculture advances, as science surelv overcomes brute force, when the days 
of deep ploughing and thorough cultivation become a necessity, then will the 
■husbandman know the value of heavy, well-built horses. 

To attain this end, horses of the above breeds must be used. Each will 
■serve their end, but for wear and tear it is likely the Clydes will eventually 
take the lead. 

It is true, the Clydesdales of the present day are not so hardy as they were. 
The system of feeding for show, carried to great excess by the Scotch breeders, 
has given rise to diseases among pure-bred animals, which they do not happily 
reproduce, and which has tended to make some of the best horses that ever 
were bred, but indifferent stock -getters. 

Then little attention was paid to systematic breeding. The old way and 
style which, no doubt, was conducted with great success as far as it went, did 
not tend to produce so many good horses as we may expect under the skilful 
mating of both well-bred and good-looking animals. 




81 



82 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOC'I'OR. 

Just as we have seen grade bulls vie in excellency with the thoroughbred, so 
it was with the Clydesdale horse. Five years ago, through the efforts of 
various parties, all lovers of the Clyde, a society was established for registering 
pedigrees, and their operations have met with signal success. 

They have laid the foundation of a system by which breeders can attain grand 
results from a careful and judicious selection of good blood. And so in America 
they have a Stud Book, drawn U|) on the same basis as the Scotch ])ublication, 
and here breeding is being carried on, more especially by Western breeders, 
with a zest second only to that of the farmers in Scotland. 

This American and Colonial demand for good horses with pedigrees, has 
given a great impetus to breeding at home, and it is likely we shall see some 
grand results from the efforts that are being made. Blessed with j)erseverance, 
and holding their own judgment at a premium, no men are better suited for this 
work than the small dairy farmers from the regions of Ayrshire, Galloway and 
Lanarkshire. 

It is to them and some larger farmers and proprietors we need to look for the 
grand, colossal horses which have made, and are destined to make, the name of 
the Clydesdale more famous than ever. 

The main feature of tlie Clydesdale is its size, combined with activity and 
hardiness. Bred upon a bare, and not very prolific soil, they thrive well upon 
being transplanted to a more generous and richer location. It is the universal 
practice among the west of Scotland breeders to keep their young stock in a semi- 
wild state, giving them only as much food as is necessary for health and develop- 
ment until they are between two and three years old. Great capacity for 
endurance is thus secured. 

A fat colt is never seen, scarce even among those reserved for the stud. 
Treated thus when they are young, they grow up hardy, with clean bones and 
well-developed muscles, and almost entirely free from hereditary disease. And, 
perchance, no horse of the present day, excepting those existing on the Arabian 
deserts, can compare for genuine and valuable intelligence with those we are 
now writing about. 

Treated for generations by their masters as companions, that is, after they 
had received their primary education, a sense almost human in some cases is 
found engraved in their nature. 

Just as the Scottish Collie and the noble Newfoundland have developed almost 
suTiernatural instincts, so the Clydesdale horses, being the companions as well 
as slaves of a class of men who took pride in their sagacity, have come to be 
looked on as possessing a rarely and widely defined instinct. Thus they 
combine strength, soundness and sense, the three attributes necessary to make 
a horse successful in the wagon or plough. 

THE POINTS OF THE CLYDESDALE. 

The writer had much to do with the formation of the Clydesdale Stud Book, 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 83 

and for a full description and history of the breed of horses we refer our 
readers to this volume. 

In the meantime we cannot do better than abridge as shortly as possible the 
beau ideal of the horse as given there : 

The head, a broad jaw, ending, as a rule, in a not very fine or well-developed 
muzzle, but with large, open nostrils. 

The eye full and vigorous, yet mild. 

The forehead brdad and full, especially between the eyes. 

The ears long and active. 

The neck should be strong and massive, supporting the head gaily, and 
showing on its top a good development of muscle. 

The shoulder should be oblique, like a thoroughbred, so that the horse can 
step out boldly. 

The legs should be short from the fetlock to the knee, and comparatively 
long from the knee upwards. 

The forearm should be well developed, showing lots of muscle. 

The bones must be hard and flinty, flat-sha[)ed, with no fleshiness ; both 
muscle and bone seeming entirely separate. Lots of hair is essential. Of 
little use itself, it shows forth quality and strength of bone, and is typical of 
the pure-bred horse. 

The knees should be big and bony. 

The feet of the Clydesdale are nearly invariably good ; great, big, widely 
developed hoofs of the best quality, and connected with the leg with sloping 
pasterns, which help every horse to go up and down hill. Nothing, in our 
idea, is so essential to a draught horse as good pasterns. 

The chest should be broad and full. 

The back and barrel should be straight and round, with the ribs going well 
back towards the quarters. In this particular Ave find the weak part of the 
Clydesdale. He is not altogether so symmetrical as he should be, as a rule, in 
this respect. 

Broad, low-set quarters, with muscular thighs descending into broad and 
proportionately-developed hocks, sum up the good points of the hind end of 
the Clydesdale. Avoid fleshy hocks ; let them be clean cut and devoid of fot 
or puffing. 

The hind leg should be short, broad, flat, clean and slightly inclined for- 
ward, while the pastern should also incline forwards ere it joins the hoof. 

The height of the Clydesdale averages about sixteen hands two inches; over 
that height they become clumsy, except when very well developed. 

The best color undoubtedly is brown, with white marks, and, so far as 
possible, this color is being adopted among breeders. 

Good action is sure to be possessed by a horse modeled on the above type. 

Both walking and trotting, there will be a style and majesty that attracts 
the eye and is useful when at work. 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 85 

XIV. The Thorough-bred in America. 

The Flemish and Danish horses, large, strong, heav}^ draft breeds, have 
had more or less influence upon the horses of the United States, particu- 
larly in Pennsj'lvania, Ohio, and the northwestern States ; but no other 
blood is so widely disseminated among our various stocks as that of the 
English thorough-bred. We have been dependent chiefly upon this 
animal for the improvement of the horses among us ; and from a time 
long prior to the Revolution, it has been the custom of our most ambitious 
breeders to import from. England both stallions and mares, but more 
especially the former, for this purpose. 

Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore, sometime betw^een 1740 and 1750, 
presented to a Mr. Ogle an English thorough-bred stallion, by which the 
colonial horse of that portion of the country was much improved ; and 
this same gentleman. Ogle, imported Queen Mab, shortly after he came 
in possession of "Spark," the Baltimore horse. Selima, a marc sired by 
the Godolphin Arabian, was brought over by one Col. Traskcr ; Miss 
Colville, or Wilkes' Old Hautboy Mare, was imported by Col. Colville ; 
.Jennie Cameron, Crab, and others, by different persons, at various times. 

It was not until within about fifty years ago that any reliable stud book 
or turf register began to be kept in the United States ; so that it is often 
diflicult to establish a claim to good pedigree extending beyond that time ; 
but many valuable importations are known to have taken place previous 
to 1829 ; and the register since kept shows that there is a very larije ad- 
mixture of English blood in many parts of the countr3^ 

The work stock of the southern States before the war, as noAv, was, of 
course, drawn mostly from States farther north and east, and w^as of in- 
different character ; but much attention was paid in that part of the 
country to raising stock ; and all horses raised there have more or less of 
the thorough-bred in them. jNIany really fine animals were found there, 
— the race-horse preserved in his purity, — but the true thorough-bred has 
rarely been found at any time in the northern States. In New Eno-land, 
the good driving horse, the horse of all work, medium sized and stoutly- 
built, is mostly found ; in New York, they have animals representing 
almost every variety of breed known in the United States, and among 
them the descendants of many famous racers. 

In Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the Northwest generallj-, they have a great 
variety of heavy draft horses — some of them of great size — not much 
attention having been paid, as yet, to saddle, light carriage, and race 
horses. In the West however, considerable improvement has been made 
by the introduction of fine stallions from Kentucky and Tennessee, Ot 
both the thorough-bred and the Morgan strain. In Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee, the breeds are various, but there is a very laroje admixture of the 



86 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

thorou<?h-bred. Their saddle, light carriage, trotting and racing stock 
are justly renowned. Scarcely any country in the world is better adapted 
to the production of fine horses than the blue-grass region of Kentucky ; 
and it constitutes a sort of Arabia of the West, to whose breeders and 
trainers the buyers of the United States, sometimes even foreign gentle- 
men, come to purchase mares, stallions, and trained coursers. 

The American thorough-bred retains many of the striking character- 
istics of the Arabian and his best old world representative, the English 
racer; and in speed he compares well with the best horses of England. 
He is more stoutly built, however, and capable of more endurance than 
the English horse. 

XV. The Morgan Horse. 

A story is current to the effect that during the w^ar of the Revolution, 
one of the British officers. Gen. DeLancy, rode a very beautiful stallion, 
of great value — said to have been a true thorough-bred. This horse was 
stolen by one Smith, an American, and retained within the American 
lines. He was the sire of a colt from a Wild Air mare ; and the colt, 
being foaled or having become by purchase the property of one Justin 
Morgan, of Randolph, Vermont, received the name of his master, and 
his descendants have ever since been known as the Morgan horse. 

The stolen stallion, called "The True Briton" or "Beautiful Bay," 
has been described as not only beautiful, but as having possessed great 
action, and being capable of leaping fences, hedges, and ditches, bearing 
a rider, from which it has been argued that he was not a thorough-bred, 
since that stock cannot jump ; but he was in any event a remarkable 
horse, and his valuable qualities have been transmitted to his descendants. 
Of so pure blood and marked character was he that his powers of repro- 
ducing himself equalled those of the most unmistakable Arabian ; and 
the Morgan blood is perceptible after various crosses, and that too, with 
many inferior breeds. 

So marked arc the characteristics of these horses, and so different arc 
they, in some particulars, from other races, that they seem fully entitled 
to be considered a distinct breed. They are in great repute, also, in 
many portions of the country ; and some efforts have been made with 
much success, to bring the stock back to its former and better condition, 
by breeding from the best and most strongly marked stallions and mares. 

They arc stout and hardy, while at the same time of good form — 
I'apable of performing the greatest amount of labor, and that, too, Nvith 
quickness of movement. They are always in demand, and command the 
highest market prices. 

The following are the distinguishing points of a true Morgan : 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 87 

111 height he is from fourteen to sixteen hands ; in weight sufficiently 
heavy for this height, with no appearance whatever of coarse bulkiness. 
He is compactly built, and of great strength ; his action is line, his 
endurance unsurpassed, and in spirit he is indomitable — never failing at 
a pull, if rightly handled — yet patient and trustworthy. As roadsters 
and horses of all work they are excellent — having no equals, perhaps, in 
this country. He walks fast, and many horses of this breed have been 
extraordinary trotters. In harness he is quiet, but nimble, and of eaf'^er 
movement. Bay, chestnut, and black are the prevailing colors. The 
*nane and tail are rather heavy and coarse, and in general wavv. 

The head is not extremely small, but there is no superfluous muscle or 
fatty matter about it; the face is straight, the forehead broad, the ears 
are small, fine, and set far apart, the nostrils arc wide, the lips are close 
and firm, the muzzle is small, the eyes are not large, but very dark, 
prominent, set wide apart, and full of animation. The back is short ; the 
shoulder-blades and hip-bones are large and oblique, the loins broad and 
muscular ; the body is long, round, deep, and closely ribbed up ; the chest- 
bone is prominent, the chest wdde and deep, the legs seem rather short 
for the height, but they are close-jointed, and though thin, they are very 
wide, hard, clean, and yet with powerful muscles ; the feet are small and 
round ; the hair is short and flossy at almost all sesisons ; the fetlocks are 
moderately long, and there is some long hair up the backs of the legs. 

In some parts of the country the Morgans are the premium horses, and 
their peculiar adaptability to all the ordinary purposes of the farmer is 
such that they enjoy a high degree of favor. 

As a breed, they are unusually long-lived, and this constitutes one of 
their great points of excellence. 

XVI. The Narragansett Pacer. 

This breed, now almost unknown as a distinct one, was remarkable 
chiefly as being natural pacers, and of such peculiar action as to render 
them peculiarly easy under the saddle. Though small, they were hardy 
and full of power, and their docility was such as to render them very 
pleasant to handle. The stock are said to have been imported into New 
England, from Andalusia, by one Gov. Robinson, and to have been bred 
chiefly in Rhode Island, where they were long held in great repute. 
Good saddle horses were in much demand in Cuba, and prior to the time 
when the Narragansett Pacer began to attract attention, the Cubans had 
been dependent for their horses upon the mother country. But the voyage 
was long, the risk considerable, and the cost great," and when it was 
once ascertained that a superior saddle animal, (according to the taste of 



88 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the times), could be had in Rhode Ishmd, much nearer home, a trade was 
at once opened, which continued, with much profit to the Rhode Island 
breeders, till the roadways of the West Indies became so much imjjroved 
as to render the introduction of light carriages a natural consequence. A 
somewhat different horse was then required, and the trade in American 
stock began to decline. As the Cuban market became less and less prof- 
itable, the interest of the stock-owners experienced a corresponding de- 
crease, till at last the effort to preserve the pacer as a distinct breed 
ceased altogether. 

At the present day, though the influence of the Narragansett Pacer 
upon New England horses is in many instances perceptible, he is no 
longer known in his former purity. 

XVII. The Vermont Draft Horse. 

Vermont has given the United States one of the two celebrated families of 
draft horses, than which few of the breeds have combined greater excellence. 
Animals with lofty crests, thin withers, short backed, round barrelled, close 
ribbed, clean and sinewy limbed, that would at first be taken for ponies. 
Standing next to them they would be found to be sixteen hands high 
and over, and on the scales they would tilt the lever at from 1150 to 1250 
pounds. 

Of the origin of the Vermont draft horse but little is known, but it is more 
than probable that the old Suffolk cart horse, imported into Massachusetts in 
1821, the Cleveland bay, brought there in 1825, and the thorough-bred horses 
introduced in 1828, bred upon the best common mares of the country, have 
produced a class of horses, the lighter ones of which were driven to the stage 
coaches of thirty to fifty years ago, as they have seldom been driven in any 
other hill country. 

And this class was grand for heavy work. The heavier specimens of which 
furnished the best heavy team horses in the country, not excepting the Cones- 
toga, a horse fully a hand higher, and admirable in every respect for heavy 
draft, as we used to see them, in the great six and seven horse teams coming 
from the mountains of Pennsylvania through to New York. It is to be re- 
gretted that the furor over the Morgans since that time has caused the Ver- 
mont draft horse to become quite rare, so that now it is rather difficult to find 
a good specimen of the breed as it once existed. 

The disappearance of these fine old horses, however, is of a piece with the 
disappearance of many other relics of the good old times. We think fondly 
of what once prevailed, and it seems as though nothing ever could be so good 
again, but those who never knew our favorites seem quite content, and get on 
full as well as though our pet things never had existence. Thus the essential 
things of one age sink from sight in another. 



THE HORSE, DIFFEEENT BREEDS, ETC. 89 

XVIII. The Canadian. 

This horse, when pure, is entitled to be considered di-;tinct. He can 
liiy no claim, of course, to being regarded as the natural horse, no more 
than the Norman, Percheron or the English thorough-bred ; but his char- 
acteristics are so marked as to render him worth}" of being classed sepa- 
rately and noticed with some minuteness. 

He is supposed to be descended from the Norman-French horse, 
brought over by the pioneers of Canada ; but how crossed, (though he is 
evidently the result of a cross), it is impossible to say. In some partic- 
ulars, he so much resembles the old horse of Normandy as to seem the 
unmistakable descendant of that stock ; whereas in others he is so unlike 
him as to indicate that the cross must have been with a very strongly 
marked animal, of great powers of transmission. 

The distinguishing characteristics may be stated as follows : Tlie 
average height is about fourteen hands ; the body is solid , compactly put 
together, but somewhat inclined to flatness of side ; the head is rather 
large for a horse of the height stated, but it is well formed and lean, so 
that it does not appear out of proportion and cumbersome ; the forehead 
is broad ; the ears are wide apart, and carried well up ; the eye is small 
and clear, and has a bold expression ; the chest is broad and full ; the 
shoulder is strong, but inclining to be straight and rather low and heavy 
at the withers ; the loins are tine ; the croup round and fleshy ; the thighs 
muscular ; the legs comparatively heavy and joints pretty large, but the 
bones are flat, and no race of horses has sounder and more powerful 
limbs ; and none can equal the Canadian as to feet — these being tough, 
hard, iron-like, and free from disease, even under the most unfavorable 
circumstances. This seems to be one of his most valuable characteristics 
of body. Bad handling, awkward shoeing, hard travel — nothing 'si the 
bounds of reason seems to affect his feet. Diseases of this part are 
almost absolutely unknown. 

The mane and tail are peculiar, being very heavy, and in almost all 
cases, wavy. The back sinews are shaggy-coated, nearly to the knee, 
and the fetlocks are long. 

The prevailing color is black ; but browns and chestnuts are frequently 
found ; sometimes sorrels and duns, having manes and tails lighter than 
the body. Occasionally there may be found a dark iron-gray, with 
black legs. 

Canadians are long-lived, easily-kept, and capable of the greatest 
endurance. They are heavy enough for the purposes of the farmer ; and 
as roadsters, while they are not to be regarded as rai)id travelers, they 
maintain a reasonable rate of speed, say six miles an hour, for long jour- 



90 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

neys and continuously, and this while carrying a heavy weight. It is 
nothing uncommon for them to do fifty miles a day for many days in 
succession ; and some have been known to do seventy, eighty, even 
ninety miles, at a single stretch of one day. 

The breed is widely spread, but chiefly in a mixed state, (inferior to 
the true Canadian in almost every instance), in the Northern and Eastern 
States. Few horses are entitled to more consideration at the hands of 
those who would obtain the best medium-sized and easily-kept animals 
for the farm, and for medium heavy and moderately rapid draft. 

XIX. The Connestoga. 

A somewhat peculiar horse of all-work, said to have originated as a 
distinct stock in the valley of Connestoga. The}^ are believed to be' 
descended from Flemish and Danish cart-horses brought over by the 
early German settlers of this part of the country, with a prol^able admix- 
ture of the ordinary draft horse in common use in the German States at 
that day. There is, however, no record of the origin of the breed, and 
all speculation may be at fault. They resemble for the most part the 
Flemish horse, especially in color, all the prevailing Flemish colors except 
black being found among them in like proportion. 

The Connestoga is a tall horse, often seventeen hands high; but his 
limbs are light for his height, and he is not inclined to be full of flesh, 
having a muscular rather than a fatty heaviness, so that he is very power- 
ful in proportion to his weight. He is used chiefly for wagons, canal 
boats, and heavy carriages, for which purposes he is both strong and 
quick enough. 

He is less distinct than formerly, and no pains are taken to preserve 
the bre"<^ as such. 

XX. Ponies. 

The small, or pony breeds, are numerous ; but the only ones deserving 
special mention are the Shetlands, the Indian, and the Mexican Mustang. 
The former is the most distinct and best type of the ponies of the Old 
World, while the Indian and the Mustang are the chief, if not the only 
native kinds, known among us. 

There are ponies somewhat similar to the Shetlands in th-^, northern 
T>arts of Sweden and of Iceland, in Wales, and on the southwestern 
coast of England. All these little animals seem to have oriofinated in 
latitudes to which the horse is not native, and to be dwarfed descendants 
of large and powerful progenitors. 

Noticing first the Shetlands, those of most perfect form, though of 



THE HORSE, DIFrERENT BREEDS, ETC. 



91 



sn,all size, are found in the extreme northern isles of Yell and IT,, . 
In he,o.ht, the, do not average n.ore than nine or ten L!^ ifd "^^ 



\ 




bhetland .an be so tall as eleven hands. In form they are round and 



92 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

closely ribbed up ; the head is well shaped — lean and bony, wide in the 
brow, sometimes slightly basin-faced, like the Arab : the ears are very 
small, well placed, are carried erect ; the eyes are large and bright, with 
a fine look of intelligence ; the neck is short and thick, and covered with 
a great mass of coarse mane ; the shoulder is sloping, thick, and having 
little elevation at the withers ; the loins are broad but finely formed ; the 
quarters are well made, but not large in proportion to other parts ; the 
back is gently curving, with never any tendency towards what is called 
sway-back ; the legs and feet are of excellent shape, and of the most 
poweiful texture, so that the Shetlander is a stranger to all those diseases 
of the feet and legs to which many horses are subject, and a lame 
Shetland is almost unknown ; the tail, like the mane, is of great volume. 

When roammg wild they live on the poorest fare, and are exposed to 
all the inclemencies of the seasons. When they cannot pick up their 
scanty subsistence upon the uplands, by reason of the snows of winter, 
they betake themselves to the sea shore and live upon kelp and sea weed. 
When taken by the peasants of those localities which they most inhabit, 
and reduced to subjection, they still require but little food and little 
care. 

Their endurance is very great ; and though they are of course incapable 
of great speed, they will carry weights largely disproportioned to their 
size, and keep up a uniform pace of from four to five miles an hour 
throughout the day, accomplishing forty, even fifty miles between 
morning and evening with apparent ease. 

They are gentle, affectionate, easily trained, and as children's horses, 
and for all other purposes for which a pony can be at all serviceable, they 
•are the best of all found in either hemisphere. 

The prevailing colors are black, brown, and a dark sorrel. 

The Mexican Mustang, one of the most widely known and distinct of 
American ponies, is found chiefly on the prairies of Texas and Mexico. 
His oriiiin is doubtful ; though it is aflirmed that notwithstandino; his 
di'minutive size, and some striking points of degeneracy, there is clear 
indication of Spanish origin. It is difficult, however, to account for the 
difference between him and other wild horses, that discover in size as 
well as in general formation that they are the descendants of animals 
left or lost upon the American continent by the early Spanish discoverers 
and conquerors. 

These ponies are undersized ; of very slight limbs ; often ugly and dis- 
proportionately made ; with long neck, long back, and long, slender and 
weak posteriors. Their hoofs are often badly formed, tending to flatness 
and irregularity. Their heads, however, though long, are lean, well 
shaped, and wellset ; and their nostrils are wide. Their manes and 



THE HORSE, DIFFERENT BREEDS, ETC. 93 

tails are fine. They have some activity and spirit, and are sometimes 
vicious, but not difficult to subdue. In a wild state, they are easily out- 
winded hy well-tramed horses of the larger breeds ; but domestication 
seems to have the effect of improving their powers of endurance, as they 
do good service for the Comanche Indians as a cavalry horse — carrying 
those w^arriors, and enabling them successfully to evade the pursuit of 
xvell-trained United States cavalry. 

Almost every color is found among them. 
' The Indian Pony, another American, is thought to be a degenerated 
Norman — having sprung from horses of that stock brought to Canada by 
the first French emigrants, and allowed by some means to escaj^e into 
the forests, as was the case ^\\i\\ certain Andalusians farther south. 
Wandering, from generation to generation, in those cold regions, and 
mider circumstances altogether unfavorable to the production of generous 
groAvth, they have become dwarfed and in other particulars modified as 
to form. They seem in their present state to be a perfectly distinct 
animal ; and they possess many points of excellence. The}^ are found 
in the upper Mississippi country, on the borders of Canada, and w^est of 
the great lakes, and are used chiefly hy the different tribes of northern 
Indians. Great herds of them are found in a wild state on the north- 
western prairies. 

They are a larger animal than the Mustang, and in most respects far 
superior to him. Though he is to be considered a true pon^s he is often 
thirteen, sometimes even fourteen, hands high. The body is very 
strongly built, being round-ribbed, short-barreled, and -with powerful 
limbs. The neck is thick and short ; the legs are covered with thick 
hair, and seem somewhat heavy and clumsy, but they are as firm, mus- 
cular, iron-like and sound, as those of the Shetlands. The mane is very 
heavy, often falling on both sides of the neck, while the forelocks cover 
the eyes, and give a sort of shaggy appearance about the upper portion 
of the head ; the tail is also heavy and generall}- inclined to be wavy. 
They have a high crest, and quite a proud carriage of the head. They 
are docile, intelligent, sure-footed, capable of enduring all the rigors ot 
a northern Winter, and able to perform long-continued journeys, at a 
moderate pace, while carrjdng or drawing disproportionate burdens. 

Their courage is so high that they do not readily succumb to any hard- 
ship, however trying its nature, and though coupled with poorness and 
Bcantiness of fare. 



CHAPTER V. 



BREEDING AND RAISING 



I. IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. II. THE BEST STOCK THE CHEAPEST. III. HE- 
REDITARY TENDENCIES AND IMMATURITY TO BE GUARDED AGAINST. IV. PRINCI- 
PLES OF TRANSMISSION. V. THE TWO METHODS, " IN-AND-IN " AND '* CROSS" BREED* 

ING CONSIDERED. VI. TREATMENT OF THE MARE AFTER BEING SERVED, DURING 

PREGNANCY, ETC. VII. HOW TO KNOW WHETHER A MARE IS IN FOAL. VIII. HOW 

TO KNOW TIMB OF FOALING. IX. ABORTION, OR SLINKING THE FOAL. X. HOW 

TO RAISE COLTS. XI. MULES. 

I. Importance of the Subject. 

No subject connected with the rearing and use of stock can be of more 
importance to the farmer and stock-grower, the intelligent, practical bus- 
iness man, than that of breedmg. That it is every way more profitable 
to any one who rears and trains a single colt to have that colt of the very 
best rather than of any indifferent quality is almost too palpable to need 
a moment's consideration. That it is possible for every man of observa- 
tion and o-ood judgment to improve his stock is equally obvious. There 
is no line of work which horses are called upon to perform that has not 
its peculiar requirements, that can be better met by some specific kind of 
animal than by one chosen at haphazard. It is a matter, then, of the 
plainest common sense that every one who means to rear a horse for his 
own use should consider beforehand to what purposes he will most prob- 
ably devote it. If it is designed for market, he needs no less to consult 
his interests by determining what markets are accessable to him, and what 
description of animal will be apt to find most ready sale therein, at most 
remunerative prices. 

For the farmer who %vants to breed and rear horses of all work, it 
would be manifestly foolish to seek a high-priced pure-blooded race, for his 
94 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING, 95 

mares, unless the mares themselves were of such type as to render it 
necessary to breed to high and elegant stallions in order to obtain those 
medium-sized, but compact, and moderately quick-paced animals that are 
so well adapted to all the wants of the farmer. 

On the other hand, one wanting a light and fleet animal would set his 
inconsiderateness in a striking manner who should so disresrard all the die- 
Lijtes of sound sense as to hope to succeed by any chance selection of 
either mares or stallions. 

II. The Best Stock the Cheapest. 

It may be laid down as the first rule — a foundation principle — ^that the 
very best and purest stock that is really adapted to the end in view should 
be sought after. 

It costs even less to feed a horse of good blood and lineage than it does 
to maintain a scrub ; it costs no more to shelter him ; it costs less to groom 
him and keep him in condition than it does to keep the scrub from lookino" 
like a scare-crow ; his movement is almost invariably smoother and 
steadier for the same rates of speed ; his temper is generally better ; his 
pluck and energy not less so ; and if it is found necessary to put him upon 
the market, he brings a better price. The service of a stallion known to 
be of good, generous blood, and possessing adequate powers of transmis- 
sion, must of course cost more ; there must be a dam adapted to the 
obtaining of a foal of the best tjqie possible from such a sire ; but the 
penny-wise, pound-foolish policy of refusing to avail one's self of these 
advantages, when in the bounds of possibility, is too apparent. 

Taking it for granted, then, that the best, in this case, is always the 
cheapest — that the finer and purer the horse can be, other things being- 
equal, the more useful, more easily maintained, and more marketable he is 
hound to be, it remains to consider some points that must always be re- 
garded by the intelligent breeder, who seeks wisely to adapt means to 
ends rather than to trust to chance. 

in. Hereditary Tendencies and Immaturity to be Guarded Against. 

A caution most needful to be insisted upon at the outset is that 
relating to the transmission of tendencies to disease and of actual disease 
itself. It seems that no man in his right senses, knowing the results to 
Ihe human family when this consideration is disregarded, would think for 
a moment of utterly ignoring the possibilities of evil consequences ; but 
ordinary observation leads to the disclosure of the fact that among 
horses diseases and impaired constitutional powers are often transmitted 
in this way. Mares at an advanced age, too stiff, too weak, too slow to 



96 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

be of any further active use, are turned to account for breeding purposes 
— and the result is, a weak foal, lacking thrift and lacking spirit. 
Mares hacked about until they are ring-boned, spavined, and splinted, or 
perhaps dropsical or with a glanderous tendency, — no longer useful on 
the farm or on the road, are relieved from the work which they can no 
longer do with any chance of profit, and sent to the stallion. Eesult : a 
foal with a rickety or knotty osseous system, or with a tendency to some 
form of dropsy, or ready, in the presence of any exciting cause, to 
develop a case of glanders. And so of other disorders, more especially 
of roaring, thick-wind, blindness, contracted feet, grease, and affections 
of the brain and nervous system. Some mares have a peculiar predispo- 
sition to surfeit, some to swelled legs, some to vertigo, some to a sort of 
unaccountable viciousness. No wise breeder can afford to disregard these 
thinsfs. If he wishes to rear a horse for service, he wants a sound foal ; 
for he knows he can get from such a one more work for less cost 
than from one unsound in bone, muscle, secretions or integument. 
If he designs to breed for market he is aware that neither a puny nor a 
diseased creature can be palmed off there either to his profit or his credit. 

To insure healthy, active, thrifty progeny, then, the dam must be 
sound and vigorous; and this is no less true of the sire. We dwell less 
upon the latter because it is of far less frequent occurrence for a broken 
down and diseased stallion to be kept for the service of mares than for 
mares of this description to be put to breeding because they are known 
to be fit for nothing else, but are erroneously deemed useful for this. 
The condition of the stallion, however, must not be overlooked. Every 
breeder must have a care to choose a vigorous stallion, and one free from 
blemishes, mal-formation and hereditary taints. 

Nor should mares be put to breeding too young. They should be full 
grown and vigorous, and when their powers begin to fail they should no 
longer be subjected to this service. It is the practice of some to begin 
to breed at two ^^ears of age. This is injurious to the mare, and 
otherAvise unprofitable to the owner. The growth of the mare is 
hindered ; her form is modified both by the weight of the stallion and by 
carrying the foal. And the foal itself is apt to lack fullness and power. 
Yet, it takes from the young mother that sustenance which she needs for 
her own development, so that she is dwarfed, while it grows up a more 
or less puny creature — of insufiScient value to compensate for the injury 
done to the dam. No mare should be so used till she is at least three 
years old — four would be the better and more profitable age. It is said 
that mares which are allowed to mature, and are well treated afterwards, 
will not lose enough of their natural vigor to disqualify them for bringing 
forth good foals till after they are twenty years old ; but it is idle to 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING. 97 

expect good, strong, Avell-formed, thrifty, and spirited offspring from a 
uiare that is either too 3'oung or too old ; or that is subjected, even in 
maturity, to hard work, poor and insufficient food, and cruel handling. 

IV. Principles of Transmission. 

Let us next notice this principle, that when the dam and the sire both 
possess a due ainount of vigor, the foal will combine in itself the most 
viarked characteristics of both; while any quality thatis pecidiar to either 
of them is apt to be prominent in the offspring. This applies to both dis- 
position and physical conformation. 

It will be seen from this statement that no matter what the general line 
of policy to be pursued b}^ the breeder, that of in-and-in, or that of 
crossing, he must select his stallions and mares "svith the view to having 
one suiDplement the other. If the mare is deficient in any point, the 
iiorse should be full or predominant there, and vice versa; and if any pe- 
culiar trait is desired, that should be very strongly developed in either 
sire or dam, while merely nominal in the other. 

Another special point to be considered is this : that for the production 
of a full-formed, symmetrical, vigorous, and thrifty foal, the mare should 
he proportionately larger than the horse. An overgrown stallion, of great 
])ower, serving a mare of diminutive size, or of size somewhat less in pro- 
portion than liis own, will beget her a strong embryo that will require 
more room and more nourishment than the mare can afford ; and the result 
must be weakness, and, probably, deformity — almost inevitably diminutive 
tdze. Men's minds were particularly called to this fact in Great Britain 
when, during a course of years, the farmers of Yorkshire thought that by 
breeding their mares to the very largest stallions the}^ could find, and 
without regard to the size of the mare, they could meet the demand in 
London for great overgrown horses, which it was then the fashion to drive 
in coaches and other heavy carriages. The result was a race of almost 
worthless creatures. 

In other points than mere size, more depends upon the selection of the 
mare than that of the horse. The great majority are mares bred aft(;r 
their o^vn stock unless the stallion is so powerful as to neutralize or over- 
come this physiological peculiarity ; so that it is necessary for her to be of 
good lineage if the best results are wanted. If she has come from dis- 
eased, vicious, or in any way evil ancestry, though she may be free from 
perceptible taint, the bad points of her stock will very probably appear 
in her offspring. This principle makes it necessary to have a regard for 
her color and for the color that is known to have been prevalent in* her 
line, since any dirty, vari-tfnted, and otherwise disagreeable colors may 
appear in a foal of hers if her progenitors have had such a hue. 



98 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

V, The two Methods, "In-and-in" and "Cross" Breeding Considered. 

As for the two leading methods of breedmg, circumstances generally 
determine which the farmer or other breeder on a moderate scale is to 
adopt. He is now almost always under the absolute necessity of cross- 
ing ; and the main point with him is, lioio to cross, in order to secure the 
best results. The main directions are already laid down, with sufficient 
minuteness to enable anyone of ordinary intelligence to judge as to the 
best means. One point must not be overlooked, that really to improve 
the stock of horses as to blood — to obtain a strain that has the power of 
transmitting itself, and of so continuing in a steady line of improvement, 
recourse must be had to pure blooded horses. The English racer or 
thoroughbred is almost our sole reliance in this respect ; although an 
Arab may occasionally be found. The true Norman Percheron is 
endowed with this characteristic of pure-blooded horses — he has great 
powers of impressing himself upon his offspring, and perpetuating the 
strain ; but he is too heavy for the ordinary run of marcs in this country -, 
and if heavy draft stock rather than the lighter horse of all work is 
wanted, the Percheron mare should also be used — or some other of equal 
lenirth and weight. Good mares of the common mixed breeds in the 
United States, bred to the light Arab, Barb, or thorough-bred stallions, 
will almost invariably produce foals partaking of their own size and 
strength, and of the finer forms, activity, and wind of the stallion. It is 
difficult to lay down any specific rule for crossing. The whole matter 
must be left to the good sense of the breeder, after the general state- 
ment of principles previously set forth. If the breeder has in view a 
mere racer, and is unable to obtain both thorough-bred mare and stallion, 
let him seek the racing stallion, at least, and one that will, as previously 
directed, supplement his mare — supply the points in which she is want- 
ino- for that specific purpose. If he wishes a trotter, the same care must 
be observed. As trotting horses are of late days in great demand in the 
United States, we insert here a cut of one of the most celebrated of the 
Old World trotters, the '< Marshland Shales," a horse foaled m 1802, 
and which was known to old age as the very best m the British Isles. 
A careful study of his conformation will be of advantage to those who 
seek to learn the peculiar points of a horse of known excellence. He 
was a half-bred ; and the impression long prevailed among the sporting 
men of England, (if it is even yet extinct), that no pure thorough-bred 
nor Arabian could excel as a trotter. 

Now, let the reader compare him with *' Dervish," and note the points 
of difference. "Der^dsh" was a little bay Arab, exceedingly fine, and 
remarkable for a darting or straight trot — throwing out his fore-leg and 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING. 



99 



straightening the knee before the foot touched the ground. He Avas 
sound, hardy, and a powerful foal-getter ; and a cross with such a horse, 
upon any well-formed, large and reasonably long-bodied mare, would be 




apt to produce the beau ideal of a trotter— moderately large, long, yet 
compact, and with light and clean 3-ct powerful limbs. 

Notice particularly the cut representing "Gold Dust," a Kentucky 
horse, foaled near Lexhigton, the property of L. L. Dorsey, a few vears 
prior to the civil war. He was mixed blooded, having been sired bv 



100 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Vermont Morgan, a great trotter, while his dam had in her both Arabian 
and thorough-bred blood. 

It is worthy of consideration on the part of the breeder that the cc^ts 
of '-Gold Dust" showed stronger marks of their Arabian and Englis/i 




ancestry, which came by his dam's side, and remotely, than of the 
Morgan, his sire, so superior is the pure blooded horse as a transmitter 
of his own qualities, and an improver of breed. *' Gold Dust" is worthy 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING, 



101 



of Study. He was not only beautiful, but a horse of the finest action-^ 
a fast walker and famous as a trotter. When native American stallions 
such as he can be found, the owner of good mares need not repine if he 
finds it impossible to come at the much-to-be-desired pure blooded 




foreigner. He may rest assured of getting improved colts, and of such 
character as will, if judiciously handled, perpetuate, to some extent at 
'east, their own jrood qualities. 

If it is heavy draft stock that is to be sought, the Norman Pcrciicron 



102 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

stallion, as we have previously intimated, ought to be had, provided the 
breeder has mares of such size as to render it judicious to put them to so 
large a horse ; otherwise, the Norman Percheron mare may be most 
advantageously bred to some native stallion, say a Morgan, a good 
Canadian, or some other compactly built and quick-paced horse. 

But it is unnecessary to extend these suggestions. If the breeder will 
consider with care what he really wants, and observe the points upon 
which we have touched, he will be at no loss to judge intelligently what 
course to pursue when cross-breeding is his only resource. He may 
often, of course, find it difficult to obtain just the stallion Avhich his 
judo-ment tells him he should have for his class of mares ; but this is a 
pointed argument in favor of that care which our farmers should long 
ago have exercised in this matter. Intelligent attention to the improve- 
ment of our stock throughout the Union will soon make it possible for 
them to select their stallions, rather than to be forced to take up with 
every hack that comes along with a flourish of red surcingles and a 
wonderful pedigree, manufactured to order. 

As to in-and-in breeding, but little need be said. All the long-winded, 
voluminous, and learned discussions of the subject have resulted in 
adding but little more to our stock of knowledge than this : that too 
close in-and-in breeding is likely to bring about weakness, malformation, 
and general deterioration ; but that to fix and preserve and intensify a 
certain strain, the Jew, (to speak in a figure), must not intermarry with 
the heathens round about him. In other words, to have true Morgans, 
both sire and dam must be of that stock, though of different families : 
to keep up the real Norman Percheron horse, we must have Norman 
Percherons, both male and female, to breed from ; and so on. 

The objection to close in-and-in breeding seems to be here : that 
nearness of kin is apt to be associated with likeness of qualities, both 
physical and mental, (if we may so speak of the horse) ; and thus the great 
requirement that one parent must supplement the other is not complied 
with. If there is a weak point in both, the weakness is perpetuated and 
made worse, whereas a weak point in one should be counteracted by a 
correspondingly strong point in the other. If it could be known with 
absolute certainty that two animals, close of kin, had strongly marked 
opposite traits of character, constitution and conformation, they might 
be bred to each other, and with the best of results. Such is sometimes 
the case ; but it is not likely to be, and the rule should be as we have 
said — let the strain be the same, \yat the kinship as far removed as 
possible. This is believed by the most candid observers to be the secret of 
Arab success. The individual breeder knows not alone his own animals, 
but those of his tribe, and of other tribes as well. Moreover, the Arabs 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING. lO.'i 

are close observers and astute judges of horse flesh, and an intelligent 
son of the Desert could by no reasonable means be induced to breed his 
mare to a stallion in which his eye had marked some weakness or evil 
tendency which he knew the mare likewise to j)ossess, however slight the 
hidications might be in either. 

Then, to recapitulate briefly: if the breeder has it in his power to keep 
up a certain stock, let him guard against the slightest admixture of heathen 
blood ; and to be as sure as possible of no evil results, let him look to se- 
curing sires and dams as widely removed from kinship as possible ; but he 
can never afford to disregard the point previously so much insisted upon, 
as a principle to be observed in crossing, that if either parent has a fault, 
the other must be correspondingly strong there. 

VI. Treatment of the Mare After Being Served, During Pregnancy, etc. 

It is proper next to notice some little matters of detail in connection 
with the management of brood mares. 

Forty-four weeks is regarded as the time which a mare goes with foal ; 
but this must be taken as mean time, since one occasionally brings forth 
a perfect colt four or five weeks sooner, and others will go equally as long 
beyond this period. When once the time of a mare is known, the breeder 
can generally regulate her going to the horse so as to have the colt appear 
at whatever season he consideres most desirable, but without this knowl- 
edge he cannot. 

After having been served by a horse, the mare should be allowed to 
stand idle awhile, as conception will be far more apt to take place if she 
is left to herself. If put to brisk motion, or to any strain immediatelv 
after copulation, she is apt to fail of conception. She should also be kept 
away from strmg-proud or badly castrated geldings, not only at thiy 
period, but during her entire pregnancy, as they are apt to Avorry her to 
the casting of the conception, or, at a later period, to slinking the foal. 

After she has been allowed a reasonable season of quiet, moderate work 
will be rather beneficial than injurious ; and this may be kept up until 
about the time of foaling. Special care should always be exercised to 
guard her against being kicked, heavily thrown, or inordinately strained 
in any way. 

It sometimes occurs that at the time of foaling, a false presentation is 
made, producing difliculty of delivery ; but no reliable instructions can be 
here given as to what course to pursue in these cases ; and it is best to 
seek the aid of some skillful veterinary surgeon. 

The mare which has had a colt will be found in season sometime within 
the next thirty days, and she ought to go to the horse at this time if she 
IS to be bred at all. The ninth day after foaling will generally be found 



104 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

to be the right time. Whenever indications of heat are discovered, the 
matter should not be delaj^ed, as the season may pass off and not return. 
After putting, the days of trial are the ninth, then, if she refuses, the 
seventh after this, and upon a second refusal, the fifth after this, which 
is sufficient to prove her. 

VII. How to Know Whether a Mare is in Foal. 

It is often important for both breeders and traders to knp^ whether a 
mare is really in foal ; and one writer has published the following direc- 
tions for determining this point, which he says may be implicitly relied on : 

"After the first service of the horse, and before the next trial, on ex- 
amining the vagina, or bearing, if conception has not taken place it will 
be of a fresh, bright, or florid and moist appearance, with a clear drop, 
appearing at the lower part, and which, if touched, will mcline to extend ; 
but if conception is present, a different appearance of the surface of the 
vagina will be presented. It will be found dry, and of a duty brown or 
rust color ; and a dark, Ijrown looking drop will replace the former clear 
drop. When these latter ap^Dearances are present, pregnancy may be re- 
garded as certain." 

VIII. How to Know Time of Foaling. 

Two days, (in some mares only one), before foaling, a sort of sticky 
substance will be found protruding from each teat, somewhat resembling 
drops of milk. Care should now be taken to provide a suitable place for 
her, as this is a certain indication of near delivery. 8he should be 
removed from other animals, and a careful person should see to her often 
enouoh to guard against accidents. 

Before the signs referred to, as shown by the teats, however, there is 
on each side of the spinal column, from the tail to the haunch, a furrow- 
like fold ; and the bag will generally be found considerably increased in 
size. These signs show that delivery is not very remote, but cannot be 
relied on to denote the day. 

IX. Abortion, or Slinking the Foal. 

When about half the time of pregnancy is passed, more than ordinary 
pains should be taken with the mare, as it is at this time, if at all, that 
she is apt to slink. She ought now to have better feeding, and even 
gentler handling than she had previously ; though at all times the owner 
but consults his own interests when he carefully guards her against ill 
usage. She has more need of food, and is less able, at this time, to 
^endure hunger, as the rapid growth of the foetus makes a constant and 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING. 1 Oo 

severe draft upon her system. Want of care may cause abortion; and 
if a mare once casts her foal, she is apt to do so at a corresponding period 
of pregnancy afterwards, — more especially if like provocation occurs. 

Various other causes of abortion, some of which may be briefly adverted 
to, for the purpose of pointing out certain preventive measures and sug- 
gesting others. Blows, strains, and any violent excitement may have 
this effect ; and it is said that to allow a mare to see and smell food to 
which she has been accustomed, and of which she is fond, without suffer- 
ing her to eat of it, will cause slinking. Feeding hogs or other stock 
upon corn, in sight of a mare that is not also thus fed, is, for this reason 
dangerous. Sympathy is a known cause: a pregnant mare, seeing an- 
other cast her foal, is apt to be affected in like manner. Nervous spasms, 
or a sort of animal hysteria, resulting from sympathy of the womb with 
a diseased stomach or other organ, occasionally results in causing the 
foal to be cast. Some affirm that a smell of blood, or of freshly slaugh- 
tered meat, will do it. 

If a mare slinks because of a hurt, a strain, or some acute attack of 
disease, she is not apt to fall into the habit of aborti6n, provided proper 
care is taken to guard against exciting causes at a corresponding period 
of her next pregnancy. 

When once this tendency is established, hoAvever, it is difficult to coun- 
teract it, as the slinking is more than likely to take place at times when 
the mare is not under observation. If symptoms of casting chance to be 
discovered in time, it may be prevented by promptly burning pigeon 
feathers, (or those of other birds, if these cannot be obtained), on a hot 
pan, or a pan of coals, and holding them so that she will be obliged to 
inhale the smoke. 

X. How to Raise Colts. 

If the colt is healthy and thriving, he should be weaned at from five to 
six months old. If allowed to run with the dam after this period, he is 
an unnecessary burden to her, since he has already learned to pick up 
and devote to his own use other sustenance, and he may most judiciously 
1)0 taken awa}'. If at this time the dam is still inclined to furnish milk 
so copiously as to render the udder painful to her, she should be looked 
after for a few days, to see thattlie over fullness does not result in inflam- 
mation and swelling. If necessary, draw away the milk by hand once 
a day for three days. It is a good plan to keep her at this time on dryer 
food than usual, and at more than ordinarily steady work. This course 
will tend to prevent the secretion of the usual quantity of milk, and the 
vdder will soon be dry. 



IQQ ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No matter how well born a colt may be he can never amount to 
anything if raised a starveling. If the dam is what she should be, he 
will have been furnished with abundant sustenance from the time of 
conception to that of delivery, which is one of the secrets of full-formed, 
linely-proportioned, vigorous foals. From foal-time to weaning he will 
have been kept vigorous and growing by the quantity and character of 
the milk furnished him, together with such little food as he has early 
learned to partake of at the manger and in the pasture of the dam. And 
now, upon being weaned, it is of the utmost importance that he have 
liberal food and sufficient protection from the inclemencies of the 
weather. This must be carefully attended to during the whole period of 
growth if he is expected to make any adequate return to the owner. 
Bruised oats and bran have been recommended as the very best food to 
be given for a considerable time after weaning. In any event let his 
food be supplied with regularity ; and it must be nutritious, yet of such 
kind and so disposed as to be easily partaken. 

He should not be stabled too much, nor in any otner way too closely 
confined — being allowed all that range and exposure to out-door weather 
common to older stock in the more clement seasons ; but he should never 
be left out in cool rains nor in tlie storms and biting cold of Winter. If 
'1 place is provided in which he may always shelter himself when the 
condition of the weather inclines him to seek cover, it will save trouble 
and yet insure a natural growth, and that hardihood which comes of 
sufficient contact with cold and heat. For this purpose a straw rick is 
sometimes recommended — so constructed as to furnish shelter on the 
le^vard side. This will give at the same time both bedding and a light 
species of food. 

Provision must of course be made for his obtaining readily, and Jit 
such times as the wants of nature may dictate, plenty of jDure water — 
the purer the better. 

Thus much as to food, drink, and shelter. Another point of impor- 
tance must not be omitted in his raising, that is, familiarizing him with 
his master or with whomsoever has charge of him. He should be 
handled sufficiently and in such a way as thoroughly to overcome all 
shyness, and to lead him to feel that man is his friend. This confidence 
once established, his training — when the proper time comes for that — will 
be easily and successfully accomplished ; his subsequent relations with his 
master will be always pleasant, and his value thereby much enhanced. 

And this, indeed, touches a fundamental principle in the care of all dumb 
beasts. Lead them to recognize that man is their friend ; that they can depend 
on him to advance their comforts, and to secure their welfare. 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING. 107 

XL Mules. 

The breeding and rearing of mules, so common in many portions of 
the United States, requires more than a passing consideration. To obtain 
the best results in crossing with the ass demands as much intellio-ent care 
as in the case of the horse : and the mule-breeder will iind it much to his 
advantage thoroughly to inform himself as to how these results are to 
be obtained. 

Many mistaken impressions prevail as to the relative usefulness of the 
mule, as compared Avith the cost of breeding and maintenance. 

It is thought by the inexperienced that he is almost equally adapted to 
every kind of draft work to which the horse may be put ; that his power 
as a pack-animal is nmch greater than that of the horse ; that his endur- 
ance is greater ; that he can subsist on less food ; and that he demands 
every way less care. All these things are set down to his advantage ; but 
in most instances the impressions are wholly erroneous. As a general 
thing, he is not well adapted to road or to city purposes at all. Especially 
are hard roads and pavements destructive to him if he is large of body 
and disproportionately small of leg. He is not so stout as a horse of 
proportionate size ; he is utterly incapable of carrying so great burdens 
as some have represented, even if loaded and attended bv experienced 
packers, — particularly if the journey is to be continuous and the roads 
are at all heavy ; his powers of endurance are not greater than those of 
the hardier kinds of horses ; he will consume as much food as a horse of 
proportionate size, if required to do like work and to maintain a like con- 
dition ; and as to care, he can do without it — so can a horse — but both 
fail thereby of that eminent thriftiness, sprightliness and longevity which 
is to be expected of animals to which it is extended. 

On the other hand, and to his discredit, it is commonly thought that 
he is naturally vicious, and wholly iacapable of appreciating kindly treat- 
ment — that the only way to control him is by violence. Hence, those 
who handle him generally feel as though they are justifiable in whipping, 
beating, kicking and whatsoever other cruelties they may choose to inflict. 
This is a grievous, foolish and wicked mistake. The mule has one means 
of defense, and his heels are dangerous to those who wantonly provoke 
or startle him and place themselves in his way. His long ears are sensi- 
tive, and by roughly handling them his combativeness is easily aroused, 
and distrust is awakened to that degree that renders him almost unman- 
ageable. Yet, the mule may be so raised and trained as to make hiu) 
gentle, obedient, even affectionate and ready to follow his master like a 
dog — so trusty that only the one always necessary precaution need be 
observed in dealing with him — to keep out of the way of his heels, which 



108 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

he thruvvs out as instinctively when startled, irritated or approached by i-. 
stranffer, as a cat thrusts out her claws. It has been remarked that 
"when a mule gets perfectly gentle, he is unfit for service ;" and that, 
taken in connection with the prevailing method of training him, is doubt- 
less true ; but there is a better way, and, if followed, it would result aw 
we have stated above. 

Now, while the mule is not adapted to everything, and endowed with 
powers that are adequate to endure starvation and brutal treatment while 
in the performance of hard and faithful service, he is admirably calcu- 
lated to meet many of the wants of individuals and corporations ; and his 
breeding, rearing and training are matters for intelligent consideration. 
For supplying the army he cannot be replaced ; for towing canal boats 
he answers admirably ; for hauling cars inside of coal mines, he is indis- 
pensable ; for the general knock-about work of a farm he is good in all 
temperate climates ; and in a cotton and sugar country, where it is warm 
and sandy, he is most especially valuable. Though he cannot endure 
everything and still meet every requirement of a heartless task-master, he 
is yet gifted with a hardihood that is admirable, and recuperative powers 
that are astonishing. Seemingly half dead, utterly broken down and 
worthless, he will, with a little rest and care, soon be again ready for 
service. 

In breeding for mules no less attention should be paid to the selection 
of suitable mares and a suitable jack than in the case of horses. It, is 
folly to use old, worn-out, diseased, ill-formed, ill-conditioned mares, and 
yet hope to obtain a good foal. As a general thing a great, overgrown, 
losg-legged mule is next to worthless. He is expensive to keep and 
unreliable as a worker — lacking wind, strength and nimbleness. The 
medium-sized, clean, compact mule is by all odds the best, unless a team 
can be found to combine more than the ordinary height with round bodies, 
not disposed to fleshiness, and larger, stronger legs than usual, with feet 
above the common size — which is seldom the case. The Spanish or 
Mexican mule — the offspring of stout, close-built, active Mustang or 
Mexican mares is superior in endurance to any known in the United 
States. He requires less food, takes it quicker, and is always in better 
fix for travel. If it is more profitable to raise good animals than poor 
ones, (and no man of ordinary intelligence can doubt this proposition), 
select mares for mule bearing that are sound, compactly built, and yet 
without any contractedness of body — active, strong, every way service- 
able. Then, the choice of a suitable jack is important — doubly so from 
the fact that the great majority of mares breed after the jack in the 
matter of legs and feet, and, if it is a good and powerful jack, the foal 
will generally bear his marks, which is a matter of some imnortance, 



THE HORSE, BREEDING AND RAISING. 



109 



since mules so marked are always regarded by experienced stock men as 
being most hardy and valuable. The jack should be large — the larger 
the better, other things bemg equal, since it is impossible to find one so 




much surpassing in size the mares we have described as to render him 
objectionable on account of disproportion, as may easily be the case with 



110 _ ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

a horse. Most especially must the breeder have an eye to his legs and 
feet ; for here, if at all, the mule is apt to be a failure — having a horse's 
body, ready to take on flesh beyond his requirements, mounted on legs 
that are too slight of bone and too small of muscle, with feet below the 
standard size for highest usefulness. 

The cut on preceding page is a portrait of a large and powerful Poitou 
ass, an animal much valued in that district of France for breeding heavy 
draft mules from cart mares. The one here represented has been de- 
scribed as being fourteen and one-fourth hands high ; greatest girth, 
seventy-seven inches ; girth behind the shoulders, sixty-six inches ; length 
of ear, fifteen inches ; ears, tip to tip across, thirty-two inches ; with 
hoofs much larger than those of the common ass. Compare him with 
the small, light ass, now in too common use among us. The differ- 
ence seems to be almost one of kind ; and with these representations in 
his mind, no observant stock-grower can be persuaded to put up with a 
poor pretense of a jack for the service of his mares. 

As for the treatment of mares that are to be thus bred, no farther 
directions need be laid down, since it must be substantially the same as 
that prescribed for the breeding of horse foals. The like instructions 
relative to weaning, feeding, and sheltering the colt must also be carried 
out ; and too much importance cannot be attached to beginning earlj^ the 
work of familiarizing him Avith man. He should be taught to regard his 
keepers without fear, to allow himself to be haltered, and readily to 
submit to direction and guidance. If this is done, he will be easily 
trained, when the proper time shall have arrived ; and if properly handled 
and judiciously taught then, he will be not only a useful, but a trusty 
and agreeable animal. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN A HORSE. 



AMERICAN VS. ENGLISH FOALS. II. AT WEANING TIME. III. THE FIRST LESSON. .. 

IV. TRAINING. V. TRAINING TO WORK. VI. TKAINISG TO BACK. VII. TRAINING 

TO SADDLE AND HARNESS. VIII. TO HANDLE A HORSE. IX. HOW TO HANDLE A 

VICIOUS COLT. X. SADDLING AND HARNESSING. XI. HOW TO SUBDUE A VICIOUS 

HORSE. XII. HOW TO TRAIN TO THE SADDLE, XUI. TRAINING TO TROT IN HaR. 

NESS. XIV. HOW TO TRAIN TO TROT IN LIGEIT HARNESS. XV. HOW TO TRAIN POU 

THE PLOW. XVI. TRAINING TO THE WAGON. XVII. HOW TO TRAIN A RACER. . 

XVIII. TRAINING A STALLION 



I. American vs. English Foals. 

It is a common remark among Englishmen visiting America that our 
horses are more easily controlled and managed in the breaking in and 
training than English horses, and hence they have been led into the error 
of supposing that they were deficient in courage and spirit. Nothing 
could be farther from the fact. The true reason is, the growing foals in 
the United States are more the companions of the children of the farmer 
than in England. They are not as a rule, beaten and abused, and thus 
do not find their real powers of resistance as they do in England under 
the handling of hirelings of little intelligence, and almost no education. 
In the United States the fondling of the colts and fillies commences 
almost with birth. They are special pets of the boys of the family. On 
the farm, and even on the road, the mares are often regularly worked 
with the colts ranning at the feet, a very bad plan for the colts, and 

111 



1 12 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

especially so for the mares, but which, nevertheless, early accustoms the"^ 
young animals to strange sights, while it renders them tame and confiding. 

II. At Weaning Time. 

The true education of the colt or filly should begin early ; at weaning 
time. They should then be haltered and taught to lead, to stand quietly 
in the stall when tied. After this is thoroughly understood the colts may 
then have their liberty, for there is nothing more healthful, or better 
calculated to develop those powers necessary to the exhibition of speed, 
endurance, or great muscular exertion, than constant, every-day exercise, 
which all young animals naturally take in their play, and this often of 
the most violent character. 

^ III. The First Lesson. 

The first lesson the young foal should be taught is to come readily at 
call. This is easily accomplished by providing one's self with delicacies, 
such as sugar and salt, of which horses are especially fond. If there are 
a number of them they will all take the lessons together, and easier, for 
the most intelligent will assist the others. At the same time they must 
be taught to be quiet by a light tap of the whip to unruly ones. 

In haltering, the colt or filly should be approached from the near side, 
the halter in both hands. Let the colt smell it until it no longer fears it, 
when, holding it properly in the left hand the right hand may be passed 
over the colt's neck and taking the strap of the halter it may be drawn 
on and buckled almost before the colt knows it. In case the colt should 
be wild, shy, or vicious, it must be confined in some place where the 
halter may be put on, but no haste must be manifested, until at the 
moment when it is to be buckled. Then do it quietly and quickly. If 
very strong, two ends of rope, each ten feet long, should be attached to 
the ring of the halter, and a free passage out of the stable allowed, one 
man holding each rope. In the case of a colt three or more years old, 
and strong, these ends should be twenty feet long, and the halter should 
have a cavesson so the muzzle will be pinched during violent struggles. 
The men holding the ropes — there may be one or more, according to the 
struo-o-les of the animal — are not to seek to throw the colt or horse, but 
simply to restrain him in his struggles to escape. The vard should be 
soft so that if the colt falls it will not be injured. But if the animal 
does fall, when down it should be firmly held so for five minutes, or until 
resistance entirely ceases. As a rule, before the expiration of fifteen 
minutes, the colt will take a lick of salt from the hand and thereafter 
follow quietly. As soon as the colt gives up he should be led to the stable. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN. 113 

tied, given a little water and fedj and then be left to himself, being 
certain he can neither break the halter or injure himself. As before 
stated, the foal once haltered, taught to stand quietly, and to lead kindly 
it may then be given its liberty until of the proper age for training. The 
animal three years old and over once in hand should be thoroughly 
broken and made way wise without delay. 

IV. Training. 

The regular training of a colt or filly should begin at the age of two 
years past. There are many urgent reasons for this ; first, the animal has 
neither the full strength, nor the disposition to resist, that it will have at 
a more mature age ; second, it is more tractable, and will acquire its les- 
sons more easily ; third, it will not have contracted habits of self-will 
difficult to be broken off ; and fourth, lessons in flexions of the body may 
be taught that will naturally increase its usefulness in whatever direction 
it may be wanted. 

In the whole manner of breaking and training the trainer must not only 
understand himself, but the young horse as well and also as of special 
importance, the particular use for which the animal is intended. If the 
colt is of cold blood, that is of no particular breeding, it will not pay to 
spend much time on its education. It is simply to be taught to lead qui- 
etly, to stand still to be harnessed and unharnessed, to be accustomed to 
the ordinary sights and objects he will encounter, to work quietly at the 
plow, or other farm implements, and to the wagon on the road, and to 
stand quietly when tied on the public streets. If to be trained as a road 
horse, or as a saddle horse, or both, or as a hunting horse, a trotting 
horse, or a racer, all these will require special, and sometimes, long con- 
tinued lessons according as the animal is intelligent and tractable or 
otherwise. It should always be remembered, however, that there is 
nothing gained by cruelty and abuse. A contrary animal may be punished, 
but it should always be done calmly and with judgment. 

V. Training to "Work. 

The first lesson for any use is implicit and perfect obedience to the will 
of the master. This thoroughly accomplished the rest of the task is com- 
paratively easy, it is only a question of time. It is supposed the animal 
is entirely free from acquired vice, that it has been halter broken, and 
taught to stand quietly at the end of the halter, to follow quietly, to lead 
by the side of the master, and to stand quietly in the stable. 

The next step is to procure a bitting bridle, a strong bridle with a heavy 
smooth snaffle bit with a tongue piece and keys depending from the center 



114 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of the bit, it must also have a check rein that may be lengthened or 
shortened, and two side straps one on each side. The harness is simply 
a very wide strong surcingle, with padded back piece, having at the top a 
strap and buckle to form a loop for the check rein and also a buckle on 
each side of the surcingle in which to buckle to side straps. To the rear 
of the pad of the circingie is attached a back strap and round crupper 
strap, the latter to buckle and unbuckle. 

Take the harness, and approaching the colt in the stall, let him smell 
it until satisfied, then put it on without undue haste or fuss. If the colt 
is nervous or skittish, talk to him and take time. The harness on, put 
on the bridle, giving plenty of length to the check rein and side straps, 
so the colt will not be unduly hampered, and let it out in a smooth, tight 
yard, following it about with the whip under the arm. Sometimes a strong 
colt will struggle and sweat violently, but if he has been properly handled 
heretofore, he will take the subjection pretty much as a matter of course. 
Let him exercise an hour a day for a few days, tightening the check rein 
and side straps gradually, until his head is brought into proper position, 
but not a constrained position. When he ceases to fret at the harness, 
pass the snap of a leading rope through the near ring of the bit and snap 
it into the off one. This rope should be about fifteen feet long. Taking 
the end in the hand, exercise the colt in a circle, allowing him to walk if 
he will. When somewhat tired let him stop and standing in front of 
him, say come, tapping him lightly on the fore-legs with the whip. If he 
pulls, hold him firmly, but without undue violence while he resists, tap- 
ping him on the fore-legs at intervals, using the word come. He will 
soon find the way to escape the whip to be to get near to you. Then 
fondle him and give him a trifle of sugar or salt and let him follow to the 
stable. So proceed from day to day, exercising him in a circle both to 
the right and left, (lunging it is called), gradually increasing his pace to 
a fair trot, until he will work as you want him, turning at the word to the 
right or left circle, or to stand and come to his master at the word of 
command. 

VI. Learning to Back. 

This is one of the most difficult things to teach a colt properly, and 
one most commonly slurred over. No horse is properly trained for the 
most simple use, until he will back as readily and as perfectly as he will 
go forward. It should be taught him while in the bitting harness, so 
that at the conmiand to back he will do so to the extent of one or more 
steps. This is done first by standing in fuont of the colt and taking a 
rein in each hand ; or take hold of the rings of the bits themselves. At 



THE HORSE, HO\V TO BREAK AND TRAIN. 115 

the word back, use pressure enough to curb the neck somewhat, but not 
enough to force the body in such a position as to cause the center of 
gravity of the animal to be strongly displaced. In backing, a hind leg 
should be lifted first, then a fore leg, and so on in rotation, the reverse as 
in walking. When the animal will back promptly and in line for ten or 
fifteen steps consecutively, the further lessons may be safely left until 
the time when the rider is in the saddle or in the vehicle behind the 
horses. Sometimes the motion may be made by standing at the side of 
the animal. However it is accomplished, if strong resistance is made 
the lesson must begin again and again until it is entirely comprehended 
and well executed. When so, a slice of sweet apple, carrot, a little 
sugar, or something the animal likes may be given it. 

VII. Training to Saddle and Harness. 

We have strited that the colt should be broken at two years old. At 
this age, however, it should never be put to hard labor. The work at 
two years old should be more in the nature of exercise than anything 
else, and this exercise should be to insure proper flexions of the body and 
limbs than for the amount of work the animal will accomplish, bearing 
in mind always, as before stated, what the animal is designed for. If as 
a saddle horse solely, or in connection with light driving, it is absolutely 
essential that the flexions should be thorough. The word flexion is but 
another name for rendering the head, neck, body and limbs perfectly 
sup[)le. The animal must first have been rendered so quiet and obedient 
that he will not strongly resist the will and action of the trainer. 

Put a bridle with a curb-bit on the colt, being careful to know that it 
fits and that there is space between the chain and jaw, so the finger can 
be easily slipped between. Standing in front of the horse, seize the right 
curb-rein with the right hand, about six inches from the branch of the 
bit, and the left rein Avith the left hand at about half the distance from 
the branch. Draw the right hand towards the body, pushing at the 
same time with the left, so as to turn the bit in the horse's mouth. If 
the horse backs, continue the operation until he yields. When the horse 
flexes his jaw and lowers his head, let the left hand slip along the rein to 
the same distance as the right, then drawing the two reins equally bring 
the head near the breast, and hold it there oblique and perpendicular, 
until it is sustained of itself. The horse will give notice by champing 
the bits. 

The jaw is flexed to the left by a contrary move as given above. So 
the horse may be made to hold his head up, and perpendicular, to lower 
it, so the trainer can make the horse flex his neck to the right and left, 



116 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Standing at his shoulder, the trainer may make him move the hind-legs 
to one side or the other, the fore-legs remaining stationary, or to move 
the fore parts in a circle the hind-legs remaining intact, and this by means 
that will naturally suggest themselves. 

But in all this there must be no ill temper displayed by the trainer no 
matter how bad the horse may act. Even if it be necessary to punish 
him the operator must be perfectly cool, never speaking in a loud voice 
or doing anything to cause undue resistance in the animal. The object 
is to teach the animal subjection to the will of man, and this can never 
be done by intemperate violence. Our practice has always been to break 
at two years old so the animal may become way-wise, flexible to the bit, 
to draw light loads, and under the saddle to walk, trot, or gallop, at com- 
mand. Then at the age of three to four years, we let it again have its 
liberty. The reason of this is, at this age the colt is shedding some prin- 
cipal teeth, and therefore not fit for work. If the lessons have been 
carefully given they will never be forgotten. If however he be properly 
fed, in the stable, he may continue to do light work through his third and 
fourth year. In no case, however, should he be put to heavy draft until 
he is five years past. As a carriage horse, the animal should not have 
hard work until he is the same age. Then he will get better and better 
until eight years old, and often do good service at the age of fifteen to 
eighteen and sometimes when past twenty years of age. There are more 
horses ruined between the ages of four and five years than at any other 
age. 

Vni. To Handle a Horse. 

As we have stated, the foal should be handled as early as possible, and 
by different persons, to early accustom it to different sights and sounds, 
but always gently. It should be carefully brushed so as not to irritate 
it ; its feet should be lifted and lightly tapped with a hammer ; a head 
stall should be put on the foal having a ring but no strap, but so the 
strap may be attached at any time to lead and exercise it. Thus, the 
trainer beside it, the colt may be taught to walk, to trot, or stand still , 
allowing it to do pretty much as it likes, within bounds. Never beat it 
under any circumstances at this age. Reward it with a trifle of sugar, 
or a little bread, or a slice of carrot, and fondle it when it has done well. 
Remember the future horse is to be the servant of man for ten or fifteen 
years of his life, and that it will pay to take pains wfth the education of 
so noble an animal, if well bred. In this day and generation it is money 
*^^hrown away to breed or handle any other, whatever the breed may be. 

When the foal is six months old strap a pad to its back and attach stirrup 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN, 117 

leathers so they may flap about. In the Spring following its birth put a 
colt's bit in his mouth, with keys attached. Rein him comfortably to the 
surcingle, to which a crupper must be attached. In this, however, 
everything must be easy to the animal. Don't try to get his head up. He 
may be flexed from time to time, that is taught to open his jaw to the 
left and right ; to turn his head to the right and left shoulder ; to raise 
and lower his head ; to turn with his hind or his fore-feet hi a circle, 
those not used being the pivot ; to come to his trainer at the word : to 
back, to guide right or left by the rein ; in fact at the age of two years 
he may be made pretty Avell waywise, so that when actually ridden, or 
hitched beside a stead}^ horse, there will be little fear or resistance to 
combat. To get him used to the rattling of a wagon, tie him by a lead- 
ing strap to the trace buckle of the back band to the off and also to the 
near horse in the team. This will instruct him and get him used to the 
word, and to walking and trotting quietly. All this may seem like 
taking a great deal of trouble, but remember that much of it may be 
done while doing the ordinary labor of the farm. 

IX. How to Handle a Vicious Colt. 

Suppose you come into possession of a wild colt at three or four years 
old, or one that has never been handled. Put him in a close place like a 
narrow stall, where he cannot turn round or by any means escape. Put 
on a cavesson halter (a cavesson is a nose-band) and it may end under 
the jaw in a running noose, so as to press with force when drawn tight. 
Have lunging straps attached to the halter ring and securely fastened. 
Allow the young horse free access out of the stable, being careful not to 
throw him down before he gets out. Let the yard be rather small, but 
quite tight, and with none near except his trainer and assistant, who holds 
the ropes. Thus with a strong man to each rope acting in concert the 
wildest colt may be handled without danger. Let him struggle and rear 
and plunge, the ropes being well spread to each side. If he rear, ease? 
on the ropes so as not to throw him, checking him as he comes down 
again . 

Only one person should speak, the trainer, using only the necessary 
words and those spoken in a firm but rather low tone of voice. 

Have a good and reliable whip, a long, straight, flexible one, but not 
for use except in cases of an emergency ; as in case the horse should 
get his liberty by slipping the halter and turn to fight. Then it must 
be used determinedly, but without exhibition of temper. If he rushes 
on you, a sharp, strong cut across the muzzle, avoiding the eyes, to be 
followed by others, as necessary. This will subdue him. If he kicks, a 
determined sharp cut over the hind legs next the body, will tame him. 



118 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

A self-possessed man, understanding the use of the whip, is in but little 
danger from a 3^oung horse. But there is no need that the animal es- 
cape. The straps and leading ropes must be secure. 

When the colt gives up, let the assistant hold the rope, while the 
trainer, with the whip under his arm, the butt forward, gently and grad- 
ually shortens his rope, advancing to the horse. Take plenty of time, 
speaking firmly but soothingly to the horse, watching for any indications 
of vice. If the ears are held naturally or thrown forward, all is right. 
When mischief is intended they Avill be thrown back. When the horse 
allows you to approach him and will smell the whip or your hand, give 
him a trifle of salt or sugar, rub his nose gently, and induce him to fol- 
low you. Then lead him into the stable and tie him in the stall securely. 
From this time on he should have a daily lesson until broken. 

One thing must be remembered ; in first tying up in the stable, the 
halter must be so strong that the animal cannot by any possible means 
break it, and so perfectly fitting and secure that he cannot slip or rub it 
off. Thus you will never again have to break him of pulling at the halter. 

X. Saddling and Harnessing. 

The trammg of the horse fairly commenced, it should proceed day by 
day. Get hini used to the harness and saddle by putting them on every 
day. Do not throw them on. Buckle every strap as carefully as though 
the animal was to be taken to work. The saddle being allowed to be put 
on without restiveness, and kindly taken, gradually draw the girth tighter 
from day to day until suiBciently tight so it will not turn. Begin by 
bearing some weight upon it, first with the hand and then by pulling on 
the stirrup. If the colt cringes at first and leans over to the side pulled 
upon, it will soon get over it, and will at length allow the full weight of 
the man sitting upright upon the saddle in the stall. 

Then accustom the colt to being touched in different parts of the body 
with the legs, to be squeezed somewhat with the thighs and knees, mount- 
ing and dismounting repeatedly. This being permitted, lead him out of 
the stable, and while an assistant holds him by the bridle above the bits 
— not by the reins — the trainer mounts, the assistant lets go, and in nine 
cases out of ten the horse will move off at the word of command. If he 
does not, use no haste ; give him time. If he rears and plunges, the 
rider must have full command and confidence in himself, or else quietly 
dismount and use the previous course until the animal understands what 
is wanted. If the rider is master of the saddle, and the horse plunges or 
throws himself about, get him into motion in a field of not less than ten 
acres, and if rather soft, so much the better ; circle him about the field 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN. 119 

until he wishes to stop, and then force him forward until he is thoroughly 

tired and subdued. Ride him to the stable, gentle him, Avash his mouth, 

let him take two or three swallows of water, add a taste of some food 

that he likes, and the real work of breaking is done. Thereafter it 'w» 

( 
simply a question of training. 

When the horse is to be put to the wagon, know that the harness is 
strong, and that it fits perfectly and easily. If the colt has bemi tied be- 
side another horse on the road, until he is not afraid of the wagon, so 
much the better. Hitch him beside an old, thoroughly broken horse, 
tying the doubletree back so the steady horse may pull all the load if 
necessary. Get quickly into the wagon while an assistant is attracting 
the attention of the colt by talking to him and stroking his nose ; pick up 
the reins and bid them go. Keep the broken horse in a walk or slow 
trot, as the case may be, and the colt will generally take kindly to the 
work in less than five minutes. Drive for about half an hour, at a walk- 
ing pace if possible, letting the colt have his own wa}'^ if not too awkward 
and ugly, turning from right to left in rather long curves. When the 
colt shows signs of fatigue, and certainly before he is tired, but not until 
he has ceased resistance, drive to the stable and unharness carefully and 
quietly as before described. 

XI. How to Subdue a Vicious Horse. 

If he be a colt that has never been handled, the directions we have 
given for bitting and training will succeed. If he has been made tricky 
by a previous owner, who was timid, go into the stable when he is tied, 
watch him closelj^ but keep cool and show no signs of fear. Take him 
by the head, and speak to him in a firm voice, put on a strong biidle and 
curb, and order him to back. If he docs not comply, give him a sharp 
cut on the fore-legs with the whip, and hold him firmly with the left hand, 
standing facing partly towards his rear, but with the head turned so you 
can see every movement of his eyes and ears. If the stall is not roomy 
and high do not attempt it. The struggle is better in a small close yard. 
If he rear cut him sharpl}^ again over the fore-legs while up, Jind if hn 
kick cut him on the hind-legs near the body, but never more than or < 
stroke at a time. When he ceases to resist, gentle him, and so proceed 
until the animal is entirely submissive to 3^our will. If a horse has ac- 
q[uired vicious habits from having beaten a timid, or worse, brutal master, 
the case is more serious. Have nothing to do with him unless fully 
assured of your powers to subdue him. 

To succeed he must be made to lie down ; to do this confine him in a 
stall so close that he cannot turn round in it, and with the near side so 



/ 



120 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



arranged that you can approach him sufficiently near to operate in anii 
direction. If the horse will submit to fondling so much tiie better. 
Under no circumstances use a whip. The work must be done by showing 
He horse that his struggles are always against himself. 

Have the side of the stall so arranged that it may be taken down and 
.How free egress to a yard thirty feet square, with a high board fence, 
or, better still, a large square barn floor covered a foot deep Avith straw 
tramped solid. Procure the following articles : a simple single-rein bri- 
dle, strong, and having a gag bit with large rings and long guards, the 
reins to be only sufficiently long so they will lie on the withers ; have also 
a strong, padded surcingle, made with a two inch ring at the belly ; also, 
one strap an inch and a quarter wdde, and three feet or more in length, 
with a strong loop to form a slip noose, and a strong buckle on the end ; 
and another strap five feet long with the end turned into a loop and firmly 
sewed ; also two strong knee pads, to protect the knees in falling. 

Put on the bridle, buckle on the knee pads, loop the short strap around 
the near fetlock of the fore-foot, raise the foot and buckle the end tightly 
around the arm of the fore-leg next the body, thus you have one foot 
firmly held up. Put the loop of the second or long strap about the fet- 
lock of the off fore-leg, and pass the end of the strap through the ring of 
the surcingle under the horse. Do not be in a hurry, and in no case lose 
your temper. If it takes two hours, well and good, you have the horse 
then perfectly under command however vicious he may be. 

See that there is entirely free egress out of the stable and let him go 
Approach him slowly, but without hesitation, steadying him by the voice. 
If he show fight do not hesitate, he is on three legs and nearly powerless, 
except to bite, or to strike you in the act of rearing. Seize him by the 
near bridle rein about twelve inches from the bit, and placing yourself 
immediately at his near quarter, or just behind his shoulder, gather the 
long strap in the right hand and when the horse rears draw up the other 
leg. 

If the horse struggles let Mm do so. It will not-be necessary to exert 
much strength, simply tact and coolness in steering him. When he 
comes down it must necessarily be on his knees. If he continue to 
struggle let him exhaust himself. It will rarely take over five minutes, 
snd never ten by the watch. Having him on his knees always seek to 
draw the head from you by pulling on the rein that comes over the neck. 
Once you have the head turned keep pulling on him until he gives up 
completely and lies down. Use no violence on the rein. It is only to be 
used to steer or guide the horse. It is the strap that does the work. 
However many attempts he may make to regain his liberty it will only 
end in the more complete discomfiture of the horse. Once down unless 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN. 121' 

he lies still hold his head still by sitting on it. When completely sub- 
dued, stroke his head, rub iiim on various parts of the body, soothe and 
caress hiui, and especially handle him wherever he is disposed to be 
touchy, being careful always to be on your guard, that if he resist he 
may be immediately checked. 

Show him a buffalo robe, an umbrella, or anything he would be likely 
to frighten at, and always let him smell it until satisfied. Sit on his side, 
handle his feet, tap them, and at last remove the straps from his feet, 
and continue to fondle him. If he attempt to rise hold doAvn his head 
firmly, and bend up one fore-leg. If he get the advantage do not struggle 
with him but let him rise to his feet again. Lay him down until he 
gives completely up. He will soon come to lie down quietly at the 
word, simply by tying up one foot, and at last will do so at your 
bidding without tying. When down and quiet pass your hand repeatedly 
over his body, breathe in his nostrils, gently open his mouth, give 
him soothing words, and when on his feet give him a taste of some- 
thing he likes. 

This is substantially Karey's plan, and it may be practiced successfully 
on very vicious horses, as w^e have done. As a rule, however, the direc- 
tions previously given will be found to be fully effectual in breaking 
«olt 

XII. How to Train to the Saddle. 

No person should attempt to break a horse to the saddle unless he be a 
thorousfh horseman himself. It is not sufficient that he be able to stick 
on a horse's back with or without a saddle. He must be able to do so, 
<ind without aid from the bridle, when the horse is undergoing any of the 
movements likely to occur when on his feet. The bridle is used simply 
to steady a horse under certain circumstances, and as a signal to guide 
him. If the trainer be not able to ride thus, and with ease to himself and 
the horse, he has no business as a trainer. 

Walking. — A fast walk is the most valuable of all the gaits of the 
horse. To walk rapidly is the first and most persistent of the lessons to 
be given. To teach a horse to walk fast the head must be kept moder- 
ately well up, and yet but little real weight should be borne on the bridle 
— only just enough to assist the swaying motion and nodding head always 
exhibited in fast walking. During the acquirement of this gait, no other 
should be aliowed, and when the horse shows signs of fatigue, the lesson 
should end. In this, the seat of the rider is important, it should be easy 
and with sufficient grip of the limbs to steady the rider, and with play of 
the lower part of the legs to keep the horse well up to his work, and assist 



/ 



122 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

in increasing the gait. Tlius by care and practice almost any horse can 
be gotten up to four miles an hour and a really active cne to five. 

In breaking to walk fast to the wagon, there should be just sufficient 
bearing on the reins to steady the horsie. The check-rein should be quite 
loose, for no horse can walk fast and easily with his head gagged back in 
an unnatural position. The horse, however, should be first trained to 
walk fast under the saddle, and by the means we have indicated. Then, 
when harnessed, he will not forget the lessons given, and may even be 
improved in his walk, if not already brought up to his maximum speed. 

A UAturally slow walking horse may be made to Avalk much faster ; a 
fast walking horse may be greatly improved in his gait, but a lazy, slow 
dolt will never pay for any education beyond that of honestly pulling 
such a load as he may be able to comfortably move. For the saddle he 
is a nuisance, and no attempts whatever, should be made to bring him 
out as a riding horse. If a good one, however, bring out his walking 
powers. Like the trotter, he will improve until he is eight or ten 
years old. 

HoAV TO Train to Trot. — Every farmer's boy thinks he knows how to 
drive a trotting horse to a wagon. Very few really do. iStill fewer un- 
derstand how to trot a horse under the saddle. If properly performed it 
is the least exhausting to the horse within the limit of his natural speed, 
and need not be unpleasant to the rider. That it is among the best and 
most pleasant exercise the horseman can take is without doubt. 

Certain drivers have denied that the trot and the pace were natural to 
the horse. Every person who has been among the wild horses of the 
plains knows the contrary. It is a fact, however, that the trot is but a 
modification of the walk. There are two styles of motion for the rider ; 
one the rising motion, by which the rider eases himself in the stirrups — 
not ungraceful when properly jaerformed — the other where the rider 
keeps a close seat, supporting himself by the knees and stirrups. The 
elbows should be kept rather close to the side, and with only just enough 
bearing on the curb and snaffle to keep the horse's head correct and the 
animal under perfect command. In fact, under no circumstances is the 
rein and bit for any other use but to guide and steady the horse. The 
rider maintains his equilibrium, keeps his seat, and renders himself en- 
tirely at home in the saddle, through the science of equitation and the 
l)roper pressure of the limbs against the saddle. Until this is thoroughly 
accomplished, no person has any business trying to train a horse to sad- 
dle gaits. The rider must trahi himself first. 

In the trot, when the rider rises in the stirrups, the snaffle-rein only 
should be used, a rein in each hand, and once grasped and properly ar- 
ranged, the arms must be held rather close to the body, but without 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIX. 123 

clinging thereto. The feet should rest in the stirrup so the heel is well 
down, the leg from the knee down fully straight, and moving but little. 

The rise and fall of the body must be as slight as possible, only suf- 
ficient to escape thumping, and to ease the horse. The head of the 
horse should be kept pretty well up, the limbs of the horse well under 
control. The rider Avill appear to support the horse with the bit. In 
fact, he does not. He simply holds the horse to his pace. 

There is this difference between road riding and race ridino- : in ridinir 
for pleasure, the animal is never severely pushed, whatever the gait may 
be. In riding a trotting or running race, the animal must put forth all 
his powers, the only object being that he extend himself as much as pos- 
sible, and without reference especially to the style of going. As a rule, 
race riders are disqualified for riding or trotting a horse gracefully on 
the road. 

In trotting, always train the horse to slacken his pace and stop if de- 
sired, by slacking the rein, and at the word. In square trotting, the 
hoofs move in exact time, 1, 2, 3, 4. Some horses acquire a pace denoted 
by the time 1, 2. With this motion it is difficult to rise easily in the sad- 
dle, and it should not be allowed. To ease the horse's wind let him walk. 
or canter slowly ; or better, give him a jog trot. The jog trot, however, 
is under no circumstances to be allowed when traveling on the road in 
company. After a hard ride at any gait, it eases the tired horse immensel}^ , 

XIII. Training to Trot in Harness. 

In trotting in harness the horse is more firmly held than when unde^ 
the saddle, and for obvious reasons. Yet here a dead strong pull is tc 
be avoided. The horse is simply to be supported and steadied by the 
bit. The driver must learn by his own study, and by observing others, 
how to do this. The bit must be adapted to the horse. A boring, hard 
mouthed brute could not be driven with comfort in a bit that would suit 
a sensitive mouth. Very many trotting drivers spoil their horses' mouth;;, 
and make them pullers. The pull of a trotting horse should never be 
such as to tire the well trained muscles of the driver, even though it be a 
lady. Indeed, one of the best drivers we ever knew was a lady, and she 
was superior by the delicacy and yet firmness with which she handled 
the reins. 

In training to trot in harness, the object should be to keep the horse 
squarely to his work, and at the top of his speed, without forcing him 
beyond it. In fact, no horse comes to his best trotting speed until he is 
at least eight years old. 

Do not force him beyond his power, and above all do not rein him so 



124 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

hard as to make him a borer. One of the best pair of road trotters we 
ever broke, were trained with curb bits, and when under smooth motion 
were apparently driven with a loose rein ; such, however, was only ap- 
parent ; they had been given such delicate mouths by careful driving 
that the least indication kept them in proper form. Below w^e give two 
illustrations : one showing a horse unduly checked and gagged back, the 
other with the head in an easy-going position. The use of the bearing 
rein is simply to ' keep the horse from getting his head too low, not to 
draw it back in an unnatural position. Under the saddle this is precisely 
the use of the curb. 





horse's head with bkaring-rein. hoese's head without bearing-rein. 

The Pacing Gait. — This is a gait natural to many horses, and exceed- 
ingly difficult to teach a horse that it is not natural to. On the other 
hand it is not difficult to make a trotter of a pacer. In pacing, a horse 
lifts both feet on a side simultaneously, and on perfectly smooth ground 
it may be made an exceedingly fast gait. It is easy to the rider but 
ungraceful in the extreme, from the fact that, as in sculling a boat, the 
body is swayed from side to side. If the horse has the pace naturally 
he should be trained to increase the pace by precisely the same general 
rules for increasing the trotting pace ; by keeping him well in hand and 
inducing him by every possible means to increase his stride. 

The rack, amble, and single foot, as it is sometimes called, are all but 
modifications of the pacing stride and the gallop, just as the jog-trot and 
the walk are modifications of the trot. 

The amble is a slow, smooth gallop, or rather canter, and must be 
taught to the horse under the curb. 

The rack is a modification of the pace, the feet instead of being lifted 
lip simultaneously side by side, represented by the figures 1-2, may be 
represented by the figures 1-2, 3-4, that is, the feet are not lifted regularly 
as in the walk. 

Single foot is a trained rack. It requires patience and time to teach, 
except in a horse having a natural adaptation thereto. Once the animal 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN. 125 

catches the idea be sure to let him know that you appreciate it, and wish 
him to ijreserve it. 

It is difficult to give written instrucitons, for rules which would accom- 
plish the matter with one horse and rider, with another would totally 
fail. There is only this fixed riile : The horse must be in complete 
subjection to the will of the rider before anything but the natural gait 
is attempted. All these gaits, and the canter as well, are taught by using * 
patience, keeping the feet of the animal well under him, and keeping him 
sufficiently w^ell curbed so he cannot extend his stride until he fully 
understands what you want of him. 

Changing the Leading Foot. — In developing any gait the horse 
should be made to start with either foot as desired. It should be one of 
the first lessons taught. To do this turn the horse's head somewhat by 
pulling the rein and pressing the heel slightly on the side opposite to tlie 
leg which it is desired to move. This will turn his head and croup 
slightly out of the proper line of progression, something that the horse 
naturally does when he starts. To change the leading leg, if, for instance, 
he is leading with the oif fore-leg, rouse the horse, turn his head to the 
right, while the left heel reminds him to throw his croup out of line, 
upon which, by a peculiar motion the change is effected. 

Galloping. — The gallop is often stated to be the fastest gait of the 
horse. This is however not strictly true. When a horse is going at the 
top of his speed under whip and spur, the whole animal is extended to 
the utmost, the head and tail straight out, and the animal going close to 
the ground. The slower he goes the more upright he holds himself, un- 
til when in the fashionable canter — the most distressing gait for the 
horse — he is almost on his haunches. All that is necessary to get the 
horse into the gait is to rouse him, give him a check for the leading foot, 
and restrain the gallop to the requirements of the case. 

The hand gallop is an easy going pace, both for the horse and the 
rider, and may be said to be half speed. The gallop proper is such a 
gait as will exhaust the horse in going ten or twelve miles. Eunning is 
that gait which cannot be continued longer than from one to three miles* 
without seriously distressing the horse. Being one of the natural gaits 
of the horse it is only necessary to rouse the l.izy horse to the proper 
speed, or to check the ambitious one to the pace desired. 

XIV. How to Train to Trot in Light Harness. 

Trotting in light harness is generally considered to mean, being hitched 
to a light vehicle, either single or double and being driven for pleasure. 
Used in this manner horses may be driven either with the curb, the 



126 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

snaffle, or other trotting bit according to the delicacy of the hand of the 
driver, or mouth of the horse. We prefer, after they are way wise and 
used to the curb, to drive them thus, until they have acquired the proper 
carriage, and this entirely without the bearing rein. The object accom- 
plished in this is, the horse becomes entirely subservient to the driver but 
at the same time learns to rely on himself so far as sure-footedness is 
• concerned. When he will go in proper form he may be driven with a 
trotting bit, until he has learned to extend himself fully, when he may 
again be placed in the curb, and if delicately handled will give satisfaction 
any where on the road. Thus trained under the curb, when used with a 
trotting bit, they may be made to exhibit all the style they are capable of 
at an ordinary gait, and nay be shaken up instantly for a brush and ex- 
tend themselves to the utmost. 

In trotting at any speed the horse must be trained to take hold of the 
bit, so he may be steadied by the rein. He must never.be allowed to 
suppose that this hold of the bit is for the purpose of pulling on. It is 
to be used simply to steady himself, and as a means of quick comprehen- 
sion of the driver's wishes. 

XV. How to Train for the Plow. 

In training a team for plowing, they must be made to walk at such a 
pace as will lay the best furrow, to walk evenly and straight ahead, with- 
out pulling apart or crowding each other, to obey the slightest check of 
the driver in laying out lands, and at the end of the furrow to come im- 
mediately and quickly about. To this end the reins should be carefully 
adjusted, the whiffle trees should be as light as will suffice to do the 
work, and the team must never be over driven. In stony or grubby land 
they must be kept so completely under control, as never to spring for- 
ward when the plow strikes an obstruction. 

In turning quartering about at the end, on square lands, in plowing 
right handed furrows, the near horse should back slightly, that the off 
horse may not step on his feet, and the traces should be kept slack 
enough so the plowman may easily enter the point of the plow in the 
next furrow. 

In back furrowing, the section of the circle described must be that 
which will liring the plow, with the aid of the ploAvman, most easily to 
the next furrow, the off horse in this case, keeping slightly behind. 

In plowing there is nothing gained by hurrying a team, and then 
stopping to rest. Plowing is hard work because it is a constant strain on 
particular sets of muscles. The team, however, maybe very much eased 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BRpAK AND TRAIN. 127 

by the tact of the plowman in holding his team up in plowing through 
hard or tough places, by knowing that the harness fits i^erfectly, and by 
always having his plow clean and in a condition to scour. 

In laying out land the team should be rather wider apart than when 
plowing furrow after furrow, or so the plowman may see the line stakes 
between the horses. In laying out lands always have the reins of such 
length that they may be carried over the left hand plow handle. Thus 
l)y taking the right hand rein a little beyond the center the hand may 
easily grasp the handle. A pull directly back will carry the horses gee 
and carrying the hand forward will tighten the near rein and carry the 
horses haw^ while a steady bearing will keep the team in a direct line 
ahead. 

The only position for the reins if carried otherwise than on the handle 
is to carry them just above the hips, and of such a length that when the 
team is going at ease they will be loose, and yet may be easily tightened 
by the plowman walking a little farther in the rear than usual. With a 
hard-mouthed team "feeling their oats" this will do. By the means we 
have indicated, if the lines are nicely adjusted, the team may be made to 
pull on the plow, and once used to this waj^ of driving we have never 
known of its being abandoned, except for a time as a change. The 
practice of carrying a rein in each hand adopted by some good plowmen 
is not to be commended, except with a kind team. In this case to carry 
them over the left handle is easier, whether the team be wild or gentle. 
In any case the reins should never be carried over the neck. It is 
awkward, and the team is never under control. Carried over one shouU 
der and under one arm is an improvement upon this awkward plan. 

XVI. Training to the Wagon. 

But little need be said on this score if attention has been paid to whab 
has been said previously. Upon good roads and with an ordinary load 
the team should be kept up to their maximum gait in walking. When 
the road is good in some places and bad in others, as country roads 
usually are, the load must be such as the team can move by hard pulling 
in the worst places. After a heavy pull always give the team a breathing 
spell, and in the middle of a pull if the team can start the load once 
stopped. This any honest team will do unless the bottom is miry, that 
is, unless from standing the team and wheels sink deeper and deeper. 
In this case, the only way is to keep going until firm ground is reached. 
The average driver is sure to hurry his team in the mud. They should 
be taught to pull steadily and slowly, and when started again, after rest- 



128 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

ing, to take hold of the load steadily and with a growing impulse until 
it moves. 

XVII. How to Train a Kacer. 

The training of racing stock, whether for running or trotting, is a fine 
art, and one which it would take a volume to properly describe in print. 
There are certain essentials, however, which are easily understood, and 
which every one who breeds stock for speed should know. The colt 
having been taught to gallop easily and naturally, should be put upon 
good sound oats and the cleanest hay. He should be carefully blanketed 
and groomed and his legs hand rubbed until fine. The exercise should 
be daily, upon a good course, and ridden under the direction of a horse- 
man who is thoroughly up in his business. When this cannot be, the 
work nmst be done under the instruction of the master. 

In race riding, the jockey throws about all his weight m the stirrups, 
steadying himself with the knees and thighs. The seat of the body is 
carried well back, the loin slightly arched, so the weight will not be 
brought too far forward, as the breech would be if tlie rider should stand 
straight in the stirrups. A jockey of ordinary weight will be found to 
carry his leg, from the knee, slightly thrown back ; thus by stiffening his 
knee he can change his center of gravity without ceasing to stand in the 
stirrups. 

Very light jockeys ride with longer stirrups, throwing their weight 
principally on their thighs, and with theii- breech raised entirely from the 
saddle, thus giving them a strong hold on the horse. Standing in the 
stirrup, however, cannot be long endured, and is only used for fast racing 
or o-alloping over bad ground, rough or deep, or in the case of a hill that 
must be passed quickly over. 

Training to racing speed on the farm may be summed up as follows : 
a smooth track, regular feeding four times a day with the soundest of 
oats and hay, with a bran mash often enough to keep the bowels in regu- 
lar condition ; the most careful grooming, with plenty of hand rubbing of 
the legs ; sweating exercise every day, and thorough cleaning afterwards ; 
a trial gallop to extend the limbs, with an occasional spurt to note the in- 
crease of speed, and occasionally a fair trial at the distance which the 
horse is trained, to test his speed, powers of endurance, improvement, 
and capabilities. 

XVIII. Training a Stallion. 

The training of a stallion should commence from the time that it is in- 
tended to keep him as such, and certainly from the age of one year, 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BREAK AND TRAIN. 129 

when colts are usually gelded. He should be exercised m a close yard, 
first at the end ol the halter, and at length without bridle or halter rein, 
and made to advance, to back, to circle, to describe a figure eight, to rear 
and come down at the word of command, to kneel, to sit on his haunches, 
to lie down, and especially to come instantly tc tis keeper at the word 
of command. 

All this takes time, but is labor well spent, for Iienceforth his usefulness 
as a sire, and escapes from accidents by being kicked, may depend upon 
his thorouo-h training. Any observing person will have noted that in 
fully half the cases a stallion will be found dragging his keeper about 
like a puppet. All this may be avoided by proper care and training, so 
the horse will retain his full exhuberance of spirit, and yet be entirely 
under control. 

His care and keeping should be of the best possible, and his daily exer- 
cise enough to . keep his muscles firm, certainly not less than eight miles 
a day during the season of service. However well trained the stallion, 
when it comes to actual service, there is always a time when he may 
refuse to obey. Then he must be made to do so at whatever cost, and to 
accomplish the object, the whip must be used to any extent sufficient to 
conquer him. Cut sharp and strong, but with temperata judgment. Do 
not rain a succession of blows. This will only make him light. A few 
well-directed blows Avill generally suffice, if they are sharp and cutting. 
Do not be afraid or drawing blood. If it can be done at the first stroke, 
80 much the better. Give him time to think before you strike the second 
time. Give him the order you wish him to execute. If there is the 
least hesitation, strike again, and so on until he is conquered. If he has 
been properly trained previously, he will handle nearly as easy as a geld- 
ing. If not, he may become a brute, dangerous for any man to handle. 
Above all, a stallion once trained, never intrust him to an incompetent 
keeper, and never allow a valuable one to be ridden during the season of 
hard service. If he travels from one station to another, or is otherwise 
exercised, it should be with a leading rein, the rider being on another 
horse. 



CHAPTER Vll. 



HOW TO SHELTER. 



I. COMFORTABLE SHELTER ECONOMICAL. II. CONSIDERATION IN CONSTRUCTING STABLE*?, 

III. MANGERS AND RACKS. IV. HOW TO INSURE A GOOO TEMPERATURE. V. CLEAN" 

ING THE STABLES. VI. THE LOFT. VII. THE HARNESS ROOM. VUI. THE OUT 

SHED. IX. WATER. 



I. Comfortable Shelter Economical. 

Although the horse is found wherever civilized man has made his home, 
and has been subjected by barbarian tribes wherever subsistence may be 
found Summer and Winter, yet in a wild state he is only found where the 
Winter and the Summer climate is mild enough to furnish herbage the 
year round. While it is true that the horse will stand weather as inclem- 
ent as cattle, yet the owner who subjects either horses or cattle to the 
storms of Winter, not only makes no money from them, but deserves to 
iose them entirely. Thus the humane man always consults his best 
interests when he keeps his horse stock not only well fed but comfortably 
housed. 

H. Considerations in Constructing Stables. 

The first consideration in the construction of a stable is the number of 
horses to be kept. After this comes in economy of space in connection 
with convenience, ventilation in connection with the health of the horses, 
130 



THE HORSE, HOW TO SHELTER. 131 

And lastly the cost. In the construction of stables the question of 
warmth, convenience and ventilation are the prime integers, and whatever 
the character of the structure it must combine these three essentials, else 
it is a failure. 

In the construction of stables the horse and carriage floor, including 
harness and tool room, and the loft, in which should be situated the bins 
for oats, shelled corn, corn in the ear, meal and bran, with suitable 
spouts and slides for delivering the feed on the lower floor, are all that is 
necessary. Every stable, however, should be supplied with a ventilating 
pipe placed about midway over one of the centre stalls. If there are 
more than four Iprses kept there should be two, and one in addition for 
each other four, but all connecting with the principal air shaft at the peak 
of the roof. 

Where the horses are near the ground, and especially if the first story, 
or the walls of the whole building be of brick, there should be at least 
two courses above the ground laid in water-lime, to prevent the dampness 
from the ground ascending up the walls by capillary attraction. How- 
ever the foundation be laid there must be perfect drainage, either natural 
or artifical. under the stable. Many valuable horses have been lost 
througL :iitoLtention to this simple matter. 

The size of the stable must of course correspond to the number of 
horses to be kept, and the number of vehicles to be sheltered. The 
width of the stalls should not be less than five feet each — six is bttter — 
and there should be at least one loose box in every stable, however small. 
If there are a number of breeding mares there should be one loose box 
to each four horses. These boxes should not be less than ten by twelve 
feet. Fourteen feet in depth for the stall is little enough. The travis 
or partition between stalls should not be less than six feet six inches long. 
If the stable is fourteen feet deep seven feet is better. It should be 
seven feet high at the head and five feet at the rear part. 

III. Mangers and Racks. 

The mangers and racks should be of the most substantial character, 
and, if expense is no object, of enameled iron, as to the mangers, and of 
iron as to the racks. If made of wood, oak or elm is a good material. 
However made there should be no rough edges to annoy the horses, nor 
splinters to wound. The top of the cap should not be less than three 
feet three inches from the floor, lior mol-e than three feet six inches. 
The manger to be about thirteen inches wide at the top, nine inches at 
the bottom and eleven inches deep. The caps may be four inches deep 
and three inches wide, securely placed. The sides and bottom of the 



132 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

manger may be of inch oak, or other hard wood. If made of pine thej' 
should be of inch and a half thickness. 

IV. How to Insure a Good Temperature. 

If the stable be of brick or stone, it may or may not be lined with wood 
with an air space between. If of wood, there should always be a lining, 
and the sheathing upon which the weather boarding is nailed should be 
covered with tarred paper. Ventilation must be attended to ; this is best 
secured by orifices at proper distances next the ceiling, that may be 
opened or closed at pleasure, and provided with lattice work to throw the 
air up when opened. This with the doors and windows in Summer will 
give plenty of ventilation and in Winter the ventilators alone will suiBce. 
It is one of the most essential points in building a stable in our American 
clim;ite, with torrid Summers and Arctic Winters, that no expense be 
spared to make the buildings comfortable. We arc decidedl}^ in favor of 
a vestibule, large enough to hold a harnessed team, or if preferred, if the 
carriage room be large enough and separated by a close partition from the 
stable, as it should be, this may be mjlde to do. From this the entrance 
to the stable may be a sliding door, through which to lead the horses ; the 
object being to prevent the rush of cold air into the stable chilling every 
horse in it. 

Wh^re more than five horses are kept in a stable we advise a close par- 
tition between each four stalls and their accompanying loose box. Tne 
reason is, that in each compartment an equal temperature is retained. It 
is not so much the degree of cold that affects horses, as sudden changes 
of temperature. Thus each may have its separate ventilation and air 
shaft, and conduce very much to the comfort of the animals kept therein. 

V. Cleaning the Stable. 

Cleanliness in the stable is of the utmost importance. There should be 
sufiicient bedding under the horses at all times to insure cleanliness ; all 
damp portions together with the droppings should be removed twice a 
day. We have never found a better n^r more economical way than to 
use a wheel barrow, with sides sufficiently wide and flaring to hold the 
load a man may handle, in which the manure and damp bedding could be 
thrown and wheeled on planks immediately to the pile. Where it is 
thrwwn out of windows it often heats so as to be offensive in Summer, 
and in Winter these windows, besides often allowing the wind and storm 
to beat in, are objectionable in many ways. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO SHELTER. 133 

VI. The Loft. 

We have already advised that the granary be in the loft, the shoots, 
however, should not enter the stable ; first, because they create more or 
less dust, and second, they are liable to contract more or less effluvia 
from the stable. They should communicate with a room by itself, suf- 
ficiently large for sifting oats and mixing feed. The granary must also 
be made rat proof, which is best done by covering the bottom and two 
feet of the sides, ^and the top with sheet iron. The floor of the whole 
loft should also be covered with a tight floor of planks, plowed and 
grooved, so that by no possibility dust or trash can drop through ; the 
loft should also be high enough to hold straAV for bedding, and hay 
enough for at least two months' feed. In fact, if it be a farm barn, it 
were better to hold enough, if possible, for the Winter. This might de- 
tract somewhat from the architectural appearance of the building, unless 
the storage and stable room be large below. In any event we should not 
build any stable, however small, less than eight feet high, with a loft 
above of the same height, and in the case of a large building we should 
extend the loft to ten, twelve or fourteen feet as the size of the ground 
floor might allow. 

Vn. The Harness Room. 

The harness room should be as complete as possible with suitable pegs 
for harness and seats or frames for saddles. It should also be provided 
with a saddler's horse for sewing raps, awls, needles, wax, thread, etc. ; 
also a table for oiling harness, and if it have a boiler set in a stove foi 
heating water, it will often be called in requisition in Winter, not only 
for its hot water facilities, but for drying harness and saddles as well 

VIII. The Out Shed. 

If the stable is provided with an out-shed for cleaning horses when the 
weather is not inclement, it will be found to save much dust and dirt in- 
side. If this shed be a vestibule to the stable, with sliding windows, so 
much the better. It may even be used, in case of need, for temporary 
gtables or for baiting a double team when it is not considered necessary 
to unharness. In fact there are many uses to which it may be put aside 
from the protection it would give the stable, in opening the doors in cold 
and inclement weather. 

IX. The Surroundings. 

Every stable should have a smooth, close yard, with a tight high fence 



134 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

surrounding it, and if one side can be covered with a shed roof, fourteen 
fest wide, so much the better. This yard should be about 30 or 40 feet 
wide, and if it contains a place in the center of strong posts for a man to 
take shelter in from a vicious brute, it is not amiss. We once saw a life 
.'saved in this way, from an ugly bull, which broke from his fastenings 
and would have killed his keeper but for this safeguard. There should 
also be a grass lot near for cutting forage in Summer for soiling, and for 
turning in a sick horse occasionally. 

# 

X. Water. 

The water supply is important. If taken from a well and pump it is 
absolutely essential that there be no contamination from the drainage of 
the stables and yards. If a tank can be so arranged that it will not 
freeze, build one by all means, and connect by pipes, pumping the water 
by means of a windmill. Or the tank may be situated where it will sup- 
ply the house, and a pipe laid to the stable underground, ending in a 
penstock. In this case, the windmill and tank may be entirely isolated 
from the barn or house, and the water carried for any distance, provided 
the head is higher than the outflow. 



CHAPTER Vm. 



HOW TO FEED, WATER AND GROOM. 



LAYING THE FOUNDATION. II. AVHAT TO FEED. III. WHEN TO FEED. IV. 'WA. 

TKRING. V. KINDS AND QUANTITIES OF FOOD TO BE GIVEN. VI. HOW TO PRE- 
PARE THE FOOD. VII. HOW TO MAKE MASHES, GRUELS AND HAY-TEA. VIII. THE 

VALUE OP HAY AND STRAW. IX. FEEDING GRAIN. X. STABLE CARE AND GROOM< 

ING. XI. THE TIME TO CLEAN. XLI. CARE OF THE FEET. XIII. BLANKETING 

WHEN NECESSARY. PROPER TOOLS FOR THE STABLE. 



I. Laying the Foundation. 

The feeding of horses must be either simple or complex according to 
the circumstances under which they are phiced and the nature of the 
work required of them. It would, for instance, be as foolish with the 
farm or ordinary work horse to pamper with fire- warmed stables, highly 
stimulating food, and exquisite grooming, together with all the parapher- 
nalia of blankets, hoods, bandages for the legs, and necessities of the 
trotting or racing stable, as it would be to allow this latter class to re- 
ceive only the same care and attention usually bestowed upon the team kept 
solely for the plow and other drudgery of the farm. At the same time 
the extremes to which horses are subject, either on "-the farm or in racing 
stables, might well be modified in very many cases to the health and well 

135 



136 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

being either of the farm horse or the pampered and high-bred racer. 
That is to say, racers are often "drawn down" too fine, and the ordinar}' 
work horse too often suffers from neglect. Thus in the first class we seo; 
a number of diseases seldom shown in the stables of horses with suf- 
ficient care, while the stables of horses carefully kept seldom suffer with 
the class of diseases found when horses are allowed to go dirty from day 
to day, and often from week to week. 

To commence at the beginning, the breeder who would succeed with 
any class of horses, should see that the mare, Avhile carrying the foal, 
has sufficient food and shelter, and that the foal itself is sufficiently nour- 
ished during the period of growth. Nothing is gained by insufficient 
shelter and food, whatever the use for which the animal is intended, and 
this brings us to the question of the food itself. 

II. What to Feed. 

In the "West the feed of all horses of whatever class is oats, Indian 
corn, bran and hay. Whatever the work to be done, bran should always 
be kept, since a horse being off his feed, or slightly ailing from any 
cause not indicative of violent disease, bran mashes with good nursing 
will bring him out all right in nine cases out of ten. So, in the Winter 
when horses are confined to hard food, a bran-mash once a week should 
be given, and this generally on Sunday morning. On the farm there is 
nothing better than an occasional feed of roots — carrots, Swedish turnips, 
or mangel wurtzel — being valuable in the order named. If a peck of 
these could be given daily as an evening or noonday meal, the good 
effects of this feeding would be quickly shown. For the mares before 
foalins: time, for the farm or draft horse, for the carriajye horses of the 
citizen, and even for the fast driven roadster, or racer, when not being 
driven to exhaustive work, these will be found valuable. 

The foal itself should be learned to eat roots as quickly as possible, 
and if the mare takes kindly to them it will not be a difficult matter foi 
the foal to learn to eat them. As to the other food of the young colt or 
filly, oats alone with grass or hay, according to the season, should be 
allowed. In the Winter, half oats and half corn may be given with ben- 
efit, unless the young things are intended for racing or trotting, and are 
kept in warm stables ; then Indian corn would not be desirable, as being 
too heating under the circumstances. 

For the ordinary farm team, or other horses of slow work, Indian corn 
may be the main dependence in Winter, in connection with good hay ; 
especially so if a fe^ roots can be allowed as a portion of the daily 
provender. For fast working horses, sound oats and hay will be the 



THE HORSE, HOW TO FEED, WATER AND GROOM. 137 

principal dependence, but in the Winter we have always given one-third 
of the weight of the daily grain ration in Indian corn, and we have always 
thought, with decided benefit. 

III. When to Peed. 

The importance of strict regularity in feeding is underestimated by 
nine-tenths of the ordinary feeders, and by fully one-half of the stable- 
men having the care of well bred horses. The horse, for whatever pur- 
pose he is used, if actively employed, should not get less than three feeds 
a day, besides the hay he eats during the night. All fast working horses 
should have four feeds a day. The hours of feeding are of prime im- 
portance. These should be, as closely as possible, at six in the morning, 
at noon, and at six at night, except at those pressing seasons of extra 
labor, when the morning feed may be an hour earlier and the evening 
feed an hour later. In this case, however, nose-bags should be carried 
to the field, or they should be turned to the wagon at 10 A. M. and at 4 
P. M. to take one-third their usual allowance, as given morning and 
evening, which meals, as a rule, should be rather more than the noonday 
feed. When corn is the main dependence as feed these lunches should 
be of oats, and if bruised so much the better. 

Fast working horses should receive their food four times a day, at six 
in the morning, at ten, at two, and at nine at night. Carriage horses 
should be fed the same number of times, the first feed being at six, and 
the last after their real work for the day is done, eay at nine at night, 
since simply going to some place of amusement at eleven o'clock oi 
later can hardly be called work. The mid-morning and afternoon meals 
will depend upon the hours at which they are generally used, nine A. M. 
and 1 P. M. being the usual times for feeding. 

IV. Watering. 

Watering and the water used is of fully as much importance as the 
feeding. A horse is particular as to the water he drinks, but yet may be 
accustomed to any water without detriment if it be fit for human use. 
The water of large lakes, rivers and running brooks is best and in the 
order named. That of ponds without outlet or inlet the worst ; in fact 
pond water should never be used ; well water is altogether better and may- 
be given without fear, when used constantly, but as with man, the liorse 
accustomed to lake or river water, which is always partially soft, should 
be given well water, when necessity requires, with care and only in suiall 
quantities, the change being gradually made. W^ater should always be 



138 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

offered before feeding, and never given in large drafts immediately after 
feeding ; two to four quarts may be given with benefit immediately after 
dry feed, to properly moisten the stomach, and it may be freely given in 
two or three hours after feeding. When driving, water should be offered, 
especially in hot weather, at every stop, but only a few quarts should be 
taken at a time, for a heated horse, like a heated man, will take more 
than is good for him. Upon stopping, wash the horse's mouth with a 
sponge soaked in water, and let him swallow each time two or three light 
sips, just enough to moisten the throat, and upon starting give him four 
to six quarts each as the occasion seems to demand. Under no circum- 
stances allow a heated horse to drink heartil3^ Farm teams and slow 
draft horses, at ordinary labor, may be allowed what they will naturally 
drink, but when heated the same rule must be observed as with hard 
driven horses. With these simple rules kept in view any intelligent owner 
or driver may keep his team fresh and without danger. 

V. Kinds and Quantities of Pood to be Given. 

We have already spoken of the proper food to be given under ordinary 
circumstances ; they are sound, whole grain, and bright, clean hay. Cer- 
tain classes of horses, as omnibus horses, stage horses, car horses, and 
the draft horses of large mercantile firms in cities, are generally fed 
ground feed and cut hay. When the hours of feeding and rest may be 
estimated with accuracy, this is on the whole as conducive to the health 
of the animal as may be, when the economy of such feeding is considered, 
especially when we remember that in large cities a regular veterinary sur- 
geon is employed, who visits the stables regularly to look after the well- 
beino- of the horses, and also where the superintendents and foremen are 
supposed to be experts. 

On the farm, and in the stables of road-driving horsemen, and where 
carriage horses are kept, cut feed may very properly and economically 
form from one-third to one-half of the daily food given. When only one 
feed is given it should be in the morning ; when two are given, they 
should be the morning and evening feeds. 

As to the quantity to be given, no definite rule can be laid down. The 
horse must have a quantity fully sufficient to keep him well up to his 
work. Hard working horses may, if regularly fed, have what grain and 
hay they will eat clean, and in this case there is no better judge than the 
animal itself, except in the case of ravenous gluttons, sometimes found 
among horses as in the human family. Elaborate rules have been laid 
down by theorists, including a per cent, of grain according to the weight 
of the animal. In practice they will not work, since the labor, condition 



THE HORSE, HOW TO FEED, WATER AND GROOM. 139 

of the animal, temperature of the season, and of stables must be vjonsid- 
ered. In the large omnibus stables where all the work is to be got out 
of horses that they can endure, from ten to fourteen pounds of cut hay 
per day are given, with from eighteen to twenty pounds of corn meal. 
Mix into provender, and on it they will go from eighteen to twenty miles 
each day. With this about three pounds of salt may be allowed each 
month. Some stable men do not feed more than one pound, arguing that 
a large quantity produces profuse staling ; others feed up to four. In 
times of extra severe labor the corn meal is increased by about three 
pounds. It would be better if the three pounds of meal where omitted 
and one extra feed of six quarts of whole oats be substituted, and given 
daily. The average livery horse may be kept in good condition on twelve 
pounds of hay and eight pounds of cornmeal daily, to be given at twu 
feeds with the addition of six quarts of oats at noon, eight pounds of hay 
to be fed cut, with the meal, and four pounds from the manger. Thi» 
same feed would do for ordinary farm horses at usual work, or if the 
grain is fed whole, five quarts of shelled corn, or its equivalent in ears, 
and six quarts of oats, with what hay will be eaten should keep the ani- 
mal in working condition. 

VI. How to Prepare the Pood. 

In preparing chopped feed, half the hay to be used, or clean, bright^ 
long straw cut into about three-quarters to one inch lengths, should be 
put into the mixing trough half an hour before it is to be mixed, and 
thoroughly moistened. On this throw the meal, mill-feed, or whatever 
article is to be used, and moisten it. Then cover with sufficient hay to 
make the mess for the desired number of horses, weighing both hay and 
meal. Let it stand until feeding time, when the whole should be worked 
over and over until thoroughly mixed. If salt is given with the mess, 
l)ut in the required quantity for each horse, from one-quarter to half an 
ounce per horse each feed. Many stablemen mix the mess half a day in 
advance, but this we do not like. Horses, like men, like their food 
fresh. An iron box is best for mixing, and it should be thoroughly 
cleaned after each meal. 

VII. How to Make Mashes, Gruel and Hay-tea. 

The ordinary sweet mash, as usually made, is to take four quarts ol 
good bran, moisten it gradually with hot water, and then mix with what 
boiling water will bring it up to the proper consistency for eating, cover- 
ing it with a cloth and feeding either warm if the animal will eat it so, 



140 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

or else cold. What salt will lie on a quarter dollar may or may not be 
mixed with it. 

A better mash, especially for dry fed horses, is to boil two quarts of 
oats and a pint of linseed, for each horse, for about three hours, and then 
mix with it sufficient bran to bring it to a proper consistency. Cover with 
a cloth and feed cold. Such a mash given once a week, if the horses are 
on average feed, will keep their boAvels in condition. If off their feed, 
add a little salt and a half pint of molasses. 

Gruel is one of the best possible things for a beaten out horse. Stir 
gradually in a gallon of water, a pint or a quart of oat-meal, or half flour 
and half corn-meal, according as the horse likes it thick or thin, and fill 
up the pail with cold water. If the horse hesitates about drinking it, 
give him first a mouthful of water. If he be very tired a quart of sound 
ale will do him good, but under no circumstances., when exhausted, should 
he be given a feed either of grain or hay. If the horse will take nothing 
else, turn down a bottle of sound ale, rub him until dry and refreshed, 
and then feed. 

Hay TEA is also a good stimulant. To make it — fill a' bucket three- 
quarters full of bright, clean hay, pour over it enough boiling water to 
fill the pail, and cover tight, to keep in the steam. Press the hay down 
occasionally, let it stand fifteen minutes, turn off, and add water enough 
to make a bucket three-quarters full. Give to the horse when the liquid 
is cool enough to drink. 

Vni. The Value of Hay and Straw. 

In the feeding of horses the principal use of hay is to distend the 
stomach. For this reason lean horses, and those just off the pasture on 
coarse feed, require more than those which are regularly stabled and 
aroomed. The chan2:e to grain must not be too sudden, else indigestion 
is apt to set in. Once a horse is used to full rations of grain, if oats are 
used, or corn meal and bran, he may get along daily with from six to 
eight pounds of hay a day. The hay, however, must be of the very 
best, bright, clean and free from dust. There is no economy in feeding 
bad hay. It is the cause of heaves, broken wind and other diseases 
produced by indigestion. Good clean straw is altogether better than 
poor hay. Straw is altogether the best material for bedding, and should 
always be used when it can be had. In the West it is plenty, and yet 
not one farmer in ten uses it for bedding in sufficient quantity or renews 
i^t often enough. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO SHELTER. Hi 

IX. Feeding Grain. 

The most economical way of feeding grain on the farm is in its whole 
state. Oats and corn should be shaken in a sieve with a mesh so small 
that it will not go through, all dust and light matter blown away, and all 
stones, bits of iron or wire, carefully picked out. It will ^Day the farm- 
er to do this as well as any other stable man. In feeding corn allow 
one-half the measure of shelled corn that would be deemed sufficient of 
oats, since corn weighs about double that of oats. If corn in the ear 
is fed, one-third more by measure heaped should be allowed than when 
shelled grain is used. In other words the stable must use seventy pounds 
of ear corn when fifty-six of shelled corn would be given, or 112 pounds 
of oats. 

Some horses eat their grain better for being moistened. If so, moisten 
it, but as a rule we like to feed whole grain dry, since the horse is obliged 
to grind it better to get it in condition for swallowing. Horses with bad 
teeth always bolt their food w^hole. All such horses, and also aged ones, 
should be fed cut hay and ground feed. 

X. Stable Care and Training. 

The importance of steadiness and care in the management of the stable 
and in the cleaning of horses cannot be over-estimated. A brutal stable- 
man, or one which a horse fears, should be immediately discharged. 
There is indeed now and then a horse that requires to be kept in terror. 
These of course are exceptions. The competent stable-man should use 
neither fear nor brutality. Not half the so-called strappers (cleaners) 
are lit to be about a horse. 

Many stable-men imagine the curry comb is an instrument for cleaning 
the legs and body of the horse. It is an instrument for cleaning the 

brush and for loosening the scurf on the fleshy — not bony parts of 

the body. In using the curry comb, do so lightly, carrying it in circles 
rather than in straight lines. Use a wisp of hay for rubbing the dust 
from the legs, and a corn col) for the fetlocks, finishing with the brush. 
In brushing, do so thoroughly, with firm, long strokes, where possible, 
being careful in working about the head and bony parts. Clean the 
brush often by passing it over the teeth of the curry comb. When the 
scurf and dust are thoroughly cleaned out, go over the horse with a damp 
wisp of hay, and finish with dry cloths, being particular to get any 
particles of dirt out of the fetlocks, the ears, about the head, next the 
tail, below the thighs, under the jaws, and between the fore-legs. A horse 



142 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

thus cleaned, whether he belongs to the farm or the city stable will not 
occasion yhame on the part of the owner. 

It is a question among horsemen, whether when a team comes in wet 
and muddy at night, it is proper to wash them. We have never found 
advantage in so doing. Clothe them warmly, bandage the legs loosely, 
and when dry, clean them, at least so far as removing the dirt, and getting 
up a glow at the surface is concerned. Thus handled, horses will seldom 
be found liable to surfeit, scratches, grease, and other diseases induced 
by checking the natural perspiration. 

XI. The Time to Clean. 

Clean when the horse is dirty. Always once a day when the horse is 
kept in the stable. Horses that run in the fields in Summer, or in the 
shed yard in Winter require no cleaning. Nature provides a natural 
scurf that defends them from the changes of the weather. Before work 
horses are littered down for the night they should be again thoroughly 
cleaned if necessary. As, for instance, if the animal has been on the 
road or in the field ; it is important and will lighten the morning cleaning, 
apart from real necessity of the case. 

Whenever the horse comes into the stable from the plow or wagon, for 
the day, he should be thoroughly cleaned when dry enough, and if sweat- 
ing or otherwise wet should be thoroughly scraped at once. The scraper 
is a thin, flexible piece of wood; a section of barrel hoop makes a good 
one. In any event a horse once in the stable, clean him thoroughly, un- 
less he be taken out again after being "baited." If he remain in the stable 
long enough for the operation, clean him especially as to the limbs, and 
if there is time, as to the body. It may seem like a good deal of work, 
but it will pay. 

XII. Care of the Feet. 

The feet are half the horse, in fact a horse with bad feet, is as near a 
worthless animal as possible. Attention to the feet is therefore of the 
first importance. In this connection shoeing is to be attended to. Know 
that the blacksmith understands his business. There are as manv io;no- 
rant botch-workmen in cities as in the country. The horse's foot should 
be a study, and every horseman should understand the anatomy of the 
foot ; this will be given in its proper place. How to care for the feet is 
in place here. When the horse is brought in from work, each foot should 
be lifted, cleaned, and examined with the picker to see that no gravel or 
other hard substance has found lodgment between the shoe and hoof, or 



THE HORSE, HOW TO SHELTER. 143 

about the frog. Examine the frog to see that no substance is wedged 
therein, and that no nail or other sharp object has pierced the sole. If 
the hoofs are inclined to be hard and dry, fill them with a mixture of 
cow-dung and clay, or with oakum saturated with tar and petroleum. 
Watch them for contraction of the hoof, caused by allowing the shoe to 
remain on too long, or from bad shoeing. If the frog gets torn and rag- 
ged, cut the rao:o:ed edo:es but leave the frog intact. If the hoof be found 
pierced with a nail, and you are not perfectly sure you have pulled out 
every bit, cut it out at whatever labor it may be to you, or pain to the 
animal. Then dress the wound with a pledget of tow saturated with tar. 
If the hoofs are inclined to be hard and brittle, oil them occasional!}', or 
let the horse stand, say for an hour or two, or for a half day on Sunday, 
in a box of soft clay and cow-manure, coming pretty well up the hoofs. 
Thus by the exercise of care and judgment you may keep the feet, what 
they ought to be, the better part of the horse. 

XIII. Blanketing— When Necessary. 

A blanket is always necessary when the horse is standing in the stable 
in Winter. A light sheet is about as necessary in Summer, during fly 
time. A blanket should always be thrown over the horse in cold weather, 
or even in the cool weather of Spring and Autumn, when standing after 
being driven. A horse should always be blanketed when standing in a 
draft, or in the rain, using a cloth or rubber blanket as the case may be. 

In blanketing a horse, see that the blanket is sufficiently large to cover 
the animal from the neck to the tail, see also that the breast flaps are 
sufficient to protect this sensitive part, and that the blanket is large 
enough to cover the sides and flank fully. If not, do not buy it at any 
price. Buy a blanket for each horse, and having them use them when 
necessary, buckling them on so they will stay. Very many stable-men 
have a number of blankets for each horse ; this is well enough if they can 
afford it, but one blanket to each horse, with enough in reserve so a dry 
blanket may be had as occasion requires, and with a good surcingle to 
each blanket, is all that is really necessary. 

XIV. Proper Tools for the Stable. 

The tools necessary for cleaning a horse properly may be very few or 
many. As a rule any horse may be properly cleaned with a scraper, a 
curry comb, a brush, a sponge, a comb, a wisp of st^aw, and a rubbing 
cloth. Horse pails both for washing the horse and for watering are in- 
dispensable to any stable but never use one for the other. These should 



144 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

be of oak, half an inch thick, and with strong iron bails, and to hold 
fourteen quarts. The set of cleaning tools should be provided for every 
two horses. Every stable should have two manure forks, one of steel and 
one of wood, splint broom, a scoop shovel, and a wheel-barrow. With 
these any stable may be kept clean, and if the eye of the master is kept 
on the help, the horses will not suffer for want of care. And these essen- 
tials to a stable, and the treatment suggested, are urged on the score of 
economy. They^ay. We also urge them from humane considerations, 
and those of neatness and system. In all respects kindness and attention 
to a horse are both satisfactory and remunerative. 



CHAPTER IX. 



BENEFITS OP KIND AND CAREFUL TREATMENT. 



I. ABUSING A FAITHFUL SERVANT. II. AVHAT ARS BARBARITIES. III. A PICTURB VHOM 

LIFE. IV. THE OTHER SIDE. V. A GOOD FARMER'S SURROUNDINGS. ^VI. FAKMBR 

UNTHRIFT'3 barn. VII. HIS HOME. VIII. THE CAREFUL MAN'S THEORY. IX. 

USING THE MEANS WE HAVE. X, AN INFALLIBLE RULE. 



'I. Abusing a Faithful Servant. 

The horse is the most useful servant of man, as he is one of the most 
noble of animals. He is fortunate if he falls into the hands of a kind 
and considerate master. Fully one-half of the horses used in civilized 
countries are driven by persons brutal in +heir temper and instincts, who, 
coming into possession cf a horse suffering from disability, inflicted by 
some former owner, or perhaps reduced in value by age, are sold for a 
song, and thereafter the poor tortured brutes wear out a most miserable 
existence, until at length they drop in their tracks, literally driven to 
death. This picture is not overdrawn. Go into any of our cities, and 
on to many of the farms of the land, and see animals in every stage of 
incurable disorders. On farms horses disabled for city use in the posses- 
Bion of some renter, whose only aim seems to be to see how soon and on 
how little food he can wear out the miserable animal. Contrast theso 
With the horses that are carefully fed and cared for, and by actual count 
the result vdll be surprising even to a veterinarian. 

As a rule, the horses of the better class of farmers fare the best. They 
are not pampered, it is true, neither are they overdriven or overworked. 
If they remain on the farm, they are capable of full work until they are 

145 



146 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



twenty years old. How many arrive at this age? Not one in fifty. The 
most of them die under seven years of age. 

II. What Are Barbarities. 

fheir name is legion. It is barbarous to overload or overdrive an- 
*iJ'>lsj to give them insufficient food and water; to allow them to stf\ud 




THB TEAM OF THE CKUKL AND IMPROVIDENT MASTER, AND THE USUAL SURROUNuINGS 



day after day uncleaned and in filth, denying them even the poor boon of 
cleaning themselves ; to work them during the progress of spavin or ring- 
bone, navicular disease, with corns, gravel, or other painful ailments of 



THE HORSE, KIND TREATMENT. 



147 



the foot ; to let them stand shivering in the cold, or in apologies for sta- 
bles^ in inclement weather without blankets ; to drive them in the mud 
and Tnire and neglect to clean them ; to ride them under torturing sad- 
dice-, or to drive them in galling collars and harness ; to use badly fitting 




THE TEAM OF THE KIND AND fcAREFUL MASTER, AND THE NATURAL SURROUNDINGS. 



or torturing bits, and then jerk their tender mouths because their agony 
will not allow them to carry their heads directly in line or go straight 
ahead ; to ride or drive through deep mud at a pace which quickly ex- 
hausts the animal, and then beat with a loaded whip, because they flag, 
or spur them until their sides are a gore of blood ; to keep the poor 



148 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

creatures in terror, from fear of the whip, and then beat with renewed 
vigor because the innocent brute does not comprehend what the master 
really does not know himself ; to give the faithful servant over to the 
tender mercies of some man who calls himself a blacksmith, who either 
pricks him with a nail, pares down the hoof and the frog lo the quick, 
and then because the poor animal cringes, holds back or perhaps stum- 
bles, beats him for it. Such are a few of the more common of the 
cruelties inflicted, and which may be seen day by day by any who will 
notice. A man cannot pass along the streets in any large city, on any 
da}^, without seeing some of these things. 

The observing man need not travel far in the country to see some such 
picture as we present of the farmer who believes in letting his stock shift 
for themselves when not at work, and is careful not to over-feed when 
they struggle with the plow or wagon. 

III. A Picture from Life. 

But, say some readers, the picture on page 146 is a fancy sketch. Not at 
all. It is drawn from life. The superannuated, rat-tailed horse, with 
one ear gone, blind, spavined, ill kept and ill fed ; the mule, still more 
rat-tailed than the horse, intact only as to his ears, the broken-down 
fence, the edge of the marshy pond, serving as a wallowing place for 
hogs, and as a watering place for the family and stock ; the dilapidated 
stable ; the log cabin — all are true to life. There is but one redeeming 
feature in the whole scene : the \vife begging that a little land may be 
left in front of the house unplowed. Will it be granted? Not so. 
The ragged edged plow will cut as close to the corner of the cabin as 
possible, and then bear off in a circle in the near distance beyond. Land 
is too valuable to spare any next the house, but the weeds and dilapidated 
fence tell a tale of plenty of land beyond. If the traveler chose he 
might learn the cause of all this. A history made in the corner grocery 
of the village, over the broken bridge. 

C(jntrast this with the companion picture we give on page 147 , an* 
which tells a very different tale. 

IV. The Other Side. 

It is of the farmer who is well-to-do by his own tact and energy. His 
team is trained to almost human intelligence. Strong, able horses, whose 
dams were kindly worked and carefully fed. When foals they were early 
taught to take their oats. In Winter they were carefully housed, their 
training commencing within a few days of their birth ; broken in at two 



THE HORSE, KIND TREATMENT. 149 

years old, worked gently, and at three past given full liberty again until 
four. They are now six j^ears old, trained to go without Jines, a gray 
and a bay; well bred; weighing 1250 each; capable of going a mile in 
four minutes to the farm wagon. How much think you they are worth? 
Let us whisper it ; $800 has been refused. A foolish farmer is he not, 
to keep so much money in ^ farm team? Perhaps not. He asks $1200, 
and he will get it. He has fulfilled the conditions we have given as to 
breeding, feeding, watering, care, shelter, breaking and training. They 
have lacked for nothing he could give them, and in turn refuse nothing 
they maj be able to do for him. 

V. A Good Farmer's Surroundings. 

The surroundings of a man in any condition in life, whether he be rich 
or poor, are an index to his character. The animus of all men is to make 
money, bui some possess in connection, a love of the beautiful. Without 
method in labor no man can be successful. The farmer who has method, 
and an eye for the beautiful, and only comfortably \, ell off, perhaps, will 
show his barn yards and surroundings something like the following illus- 
tration ; 




THE BARN OF THE PROVIDENT WASTER, 



His Darns are tight and ample, and filled to the ridge-pole with fodder 
His yards are protected with shelter-belts and wind-breaks, his pastures 
and meadows ample and luxuriant, and his crops well tilled and heavy. 
Inside his barns will be found a place for everything and everything in 
its place. 

VI. Farmer Unthrift's Barn. 

On the other hand we give a view of the barn of the improvident master. 
His well, simply a hole in the ground where the drainage of the yard may 
enter, the roof of the hovel rent and torn, the delapidated doors propped 

10 



150 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



up with rails, the weather-boards fallen or falling off, and the whole thing 

shaky, like the master's mind. Fine stock, fat, and well groomed, have 

come out of hovels of barns ; they . 
were made warm and comfortable. It 
is not the most expensive structures 
that always contain the best stock, 
but in the end the better barn will be 
built. We have never seen good 
stock issue from such a barn as we 
have shown, and it only needs to show 
the house the farmer lives in, with 
its brush heap, its line of ragged 
clothes, the ragged, dirty children, 

and generally dilapidated appearance, to complete the pictorial storj' r>f 

general unthrift 




FAKMER UNIURIFT'S BARN. 



Vn. Farmer Unthrift's Home. 




FARMER UNTHRIFT'S HOME. 



Such a man will raise his colts from spavined and broken down mares , 
tney will shift for themselves upon scanty pasture in Summer, and in the 
brush in Winter. He believes in hardening his stock, and he does it ; 
hardens them into "runts," not worth a month's keeping. They are 
literally broken to work, broken in body and temper with cruel blows ; 
they are halter-broken too, the halter is a rope knotted about the neck, 
like the poor old horse shown on next page, tied outside the barn for the 
benefit of the fresh air it may get ; a starved out skeleton horse, contem- 
plating the skeleton of a barn. Even in such a barn there are capabilities 
that may be utilized for comfort. It may be reshingled, and new clap- 
boarded, and the doors hung on their hinges. It may even be patched 
vj) so as not to leak, and be banked up to keep out the cold. But will it 



THE HORSE, HOW TO SHELTER. 



151 



be? Hardly ! The picture of the old house, the wreck of a horse, the 
old rope around the neck, the rotten barn, all tell of more money spent 
at the dram-shop than for the maintenance and comfort of the family or 



the well-being of the stock. 





THE BARM OF THE CRUEL MASTER. A MODEL HALTER ON A MODEL COLT- 

VIII. The Careful Man's Theory. 

As an accompaniment to this we give an illustration of a well-kept 
colt in a model halter for unbroken horses. By slipping both ends of 
the chin strap through the ring of the tying rope, it is a halter for a well 
broken horse. The man who possesses such stock and fixtures may Aiot 
be rich ; probably is not, but he is a careful, thinking, reading, method- 
ical man, who believes in doing everji^hing well. He uses no cruel 
bridles, gives his colts no excuse for getting cast in their halters. His 
harness seldom galls the team, and when it does, it is remedied at the 
first indication. However dirty his team goes into the stable, it always 
comes out clean and blooming ; not only this, such a master never finally 
leaves his team for the night, after a hard day's labor, until it is dry, well 
groomed, well littered down, and in every way comfortable- for the night. 
In the morning his team are always ready for the field or road ; and 
however eager or spirited they may be, will travel along together, either 
ahead of or behind the master, and looking like the picture that we here 
give on following page — a lordly team, that only could belong to a kind 
and considerate master. 

They are not too many. The cruel, or shiftless, or drunken mastjery 
are plenty enough. The farm stock of many get barely enough to eat, 
and that in an irregular and improvident kind of way. They never pull 
very heavy loads, the master has not many to haul, and he believv s in 



152 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



skim plowing. When he comes home, he "runs them into the barn,'' 
such as it is ; or they take the yard for it, and in the morning very closely 
resemble the picture on the left * 





TEAM OP THE KIND MASTER. 



TEAM OF THE CRUEL MASTER. 



A "humped up," hungiy, thirsty pair of servants to a cruel, because 
improvident master. 

Such a man may not be cruel in the sense of beating. He may be 
really a kind-hearted man, a good neighbor, "thoroughly honest, as the 
world goes," he may even be a good Christian man, or thinh so at 
least. He is cruel nevertheless. More cruel perhaps than the brute who 
belabors his beasts and then repents. Cruel in his improvidence, in his 
Geo;lect of his farm and his stock. 





HIS DOOR-YARD GATE. 



UIS FIELD-GATE 



Is it any wonder that in the morning the team should be found in the 
yard, waiting for their breakfast. The wonder is that there should be 
anything, either in the house or out for either man or beast to brealcfast on. 

If to neglect we add a cruel or brutal disposition, the animals of the 
farm are to be pitied, and the household likewise pitied, and prayed for. 

This chapter is pictorial, and not particularly given to practical infor- 
mation on the care of horses, it is a chapter of contrasts, and given 
deliberately, as indicating far more eloquently than mere words can, the 
difference between careful and kind treatment of stock, and cruel or 



THE HORSE, KIND TREATMENT. 153 

neglectful treatment. It is, in fact, the story of thrift and unthrift. 
We expect few whom it might benefit will see it. The unthrifty man 
whom we have depicted, seldom sees books, and we might almost say, 
never buys one. Those however who do, may perform good missionary 
work among the class we have represented, by showing them how quickly 
thrift will follow good intentions, religiously kept, backed up by honest 
industry, guided by careful judgment, and accompanied by a will to 
perform. It will repair houses and barns, build gates and fences, culti- 
vate smiling fields, rear and train good stock, lift the mortgage off the 
farm , educate the growing family, and bring comfort and happiness to a 
once cheerless and suffering family. 

IX. Using the Means We Have. 

In the foregoing, it is not to be understood that expensive appearances 
are necessary for training a horse, neither is it to be understood that 
costly buildings are necessary. We have stated more than once that any 
farm animal may be kept in the most comfortable manner, in a structure 
made of poles and hay, and we will add, kept in as good health as in ex- 
pensive stables. The reason is that the master who uses care in making 
a simple structure warm and comfortable has humanity to start with, and 
generally gives his own personal care and supervision, while in costly 
stables the animals are usually left to the care of men hired for the pur- 
pose. The owner, often, from the pressure of other business pursuits, 
being unable to do more than to drive a favorite animal or team. In 
perhaps a majorit}^ of cases he knows little or nothing of how a horse 
should be cared for, and of course nothing as to the fitness of those 
whom he pays for doing the work. 

The object of this work is to present in a condensed form the best prac- 
tices, founded upon common sense, and the experience of superior 
stockmen in the care of animals. A study of these pages will enable any 
person to acquire a good idea of the simplest and best means for arriving 
at a correct knowledge of how animals should be bred, raised, fed, trained, 
and cared for. He may thus understand how to do the work himself, or, 
in case he be a man of business, or wealth and leisure, he may quickly 
know whether the help he relies on are doing their duty, not only in feed- 
ing and cleaning, in exercising and the general care of the animals under 
them, but also know at a glance, whether the animals are treated with 
the kindness and consideration that dumb brutes, but faithful servants, 
deserve from man. The closest and most constant attention to these points 
wilj abundantly pay every farmer, and every wise farmer will be certain to 
bestow such care. 



154 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

X. An Infallible Bnile. 

We have known a brutal stable-man to flog a horse in the most terrible 
manner, simply to get rid of his own ugliness, as he expressed it, while 
at ordinary times he petted and made much of the animal. Such an am_ 
mal will be frantic at the sight of a whip held in a threatening manner. 
Animals that are in the habit of being struck with the pitchfork, or being 
kicked and cuffed, will watch carefully the stable-man, and show by their 
nervousness in the stable what they are expecting, while of the master 
they will show no sign of fear. Stable-men are often cunning creatures ; 
they will have soothing words to quiet the animal in the presence of the 
master. We have always held that, the horse should be spoken to firmly 
but quietly, and always have an inherent suspicion that a team exhibiting 
signs of fear at times, where we always hear the keeper speaking to them 
in soothing tones, are abused in secret. 

No sane man Avould practice such treatment to his own stock, and no 
man who is obliged to leave valuable animals in the care of servants 
should fail to know that they are doing their duty. It is not enough that 
the stable-men feed the regular rations, that they clean and exercise prop- 
erly. It should be made important that in all their intercourse with the 
animals under their care, they be not unduly punished, nor in any other 
respect abused. 



CHAPTER X. 



HOW TO BUY. 



HOW TO GET CORRECT INFORMATION. II. THE BUYER MUST KNOW WHAT HE WANTS. 

III. PROPORTIONS OF THE HORSE. IV. THE CLEVELAND BAY FOR PROFIT. V. 

THE LIGHT HARNESS HORSE. VI. SADDLE HORSES OF ALL GAITS. VII. THE HIGII- 

BRKD HUNTING HORSE. VIII. RACING HORSES. IX. WHAT THE RACER SHOULD lii:. 

X. TO AVOID VICES AND DEFCCTS— HOW TO DETECT. XI. OTHER FAULTS AND 

IMPERFECTIONS. 



I. How to Get Correct Information. 

Every horse owner sooner or later becomes a judge of what he is buy- 
ing. If he depends entirely upon the lessons learned through cheats that 
are practiced upon him by sharp jockeys, life is too short for him'ever to 
become an adept in distinguishing vice, unsoundness, "dosed up" and 
used up horses as among the various tricks and swindles practiced upon 
the ignorant and unwary. Generally after being cheated, or absolutely 
swindled a few times, the breeder goes to the only correct source of 
information, concisely written and carefully illustrated books. He is 
thus enabled not only to s'tudy, but subsequently to carry in his mind 
what he has read and seen ; he comes to compare critically the living 
animal with the illustrations and descriptions, and thus becomes an expert 
himself, and in a hundredth part of the time by which he could acquire 
correct information in any other way. This is precisely the means used 
by any professional man in the acquisition of true knowledge in the 
pursuit of his profession, whether it be in a learned profession or in the 
education to practical art. Thereafter practice makes perfect. 

II. The Buyer Must Know What he Wants. 

Suppose he is looking for stock from which to breed trotting horses. 
He must then consider the type of horse he wishes to breed ; whether for 

]55 



156 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



.peed alone, or for style and speed. That is, first class road horses o^ 
large, strong able horses, combn.ing in as great a degree as may be hrl 




ro^-I.,rf of f ,r "'•''''• ".'f *° '''«'' "'^'^ '™'«"g stallions, we give 
what suc^ ho r\ ff'"'^ ?-d ^"-gh for sires, and as model! of 

what such horses should be. The first showing eminent breeding, with 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



15^ 



style enough : rather straight on his fetlocks, according to the idea of 
many good horsemen, but with length enough, from our standpoint, to 
give flexibility. A horse compact and smooth, with excellent flat and 




smewy limbs, good feet, ample chest, good lungs, fine eye, broad fore- 
head, and strong jaws. The head not the ideal of modern "blood 
horsemen," but nevertheless showing docility and intelligence in a high 
degree. Showing also high breeding in every part. 



158 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



The cut on page 157 is of a horse of great style aild endurance, fine all 
over. A horse that will go with his head well ud : limbs exceedingly 
fine, mane rather light, but with plenty of tail, as a horsp should have ; 
evidently showing Morgan blood, dashed with Bell Founder and other 
thorough blood. 




Between the two, for real and intrinsic merit, the first should be taken. 
There is plenty of style about him, and strength. There is also a body 
of fine character on limbs of great power. Such will be found accept- 
able and sought after always by gentlemen wanting a single horse, or a 
pair for driving on the road, or for driving in the city park-ways in the 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



159 



afternoon. Either of the two will make capital and stylish saddle horses, 
if well trained, such as no gentleman of ordinary weight or any lady 
need be ashamed of when taking the afternoon trot or canter on the 
fashionable boulevards or park-drives of our large cities, or on the streets 
or roadings of cities having no parks. The first the best horse, the sec- 
ond the most stylish. 

The third cut we give is that of a horse of larije size and stron<r build, 
adapted for drawing as a single horse for the coupe, or one of a team to 
the family carriage ; as one of a pair for a coach or barouche ; one that 
will give satisfaction almost anywhere, if not driven over eight miles an 
hour, and capable as well of hauling loads on good roads, at a fast 
walking pace. 

A horse of this stamp, sixteen to sixteen and a half hands high, not 
particularly heavy set, rather long-limbed, with rangy neck and good 
head, with plenty of spirit, and weighing about 1200 pounds, may be 
called a general utility horse. Such will command ready sale at any 
time, if well broken and trained, say at from $200 to $300 each, and if 
particularly nice and well matched, often at $800 or $900 the pair, as 
carriaofe horses when five or six years old. 



III. Proportions of the Horse. 




PROPORTIONS OS" THK VAHIOPS PABT3 . 



To arrive at a clear understanding of the proportions of the horse, we 
give an outline that will be a good study, not only for the beginner, but 



160 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

will be valuable for reference for any horseman, however expert he may 
be. This illustration combines the average measurements of six horses, 
accepted for perfect symmetry, and taken, says Mr. J. H. Walsh (Stone- 
henge) — one of the most graphic and lucid of English writers on the 
horse — two of them from celebrated stallions, two from thorough-bred 
hunters, and two from chargers of great value. This, therefore, will not 
appl}'^ to draft horses, but it will be found that the nearer the general 
utility horse comes to these measurements, the better he will be. 

Inches. 

Height 63 

Length from shoulder-point to quarter 66 

From the lowest part of the chest to the ground 36 

From the elbow-point to the ground 39 

From the withers to the pole, just behind the ears, in a straight line 30 

The same measured along the crest 32 

Length of head 22 

Width across the forehead 9 1-2 

From the withers to the hip 22 

From the stifle to the point of the hock, in the attitude shown in the plan 29 

From the root of the tail to the stifle-joint 26 

From the point of the hock to the ground 22 1 2 

Length of arm from the elbow to the pisiform bone (the rear bone of those 

forming the upper articulation of the knee) 191-2 

From the pisiform bone to the ground 19 1-2 

Girth varies from 78 to 79 

Circumference of fore-cannon bone (large metacarpel or shank bone, extend- 
ing from the knee to the fetlock) 7 1-2, 8, 8, 8, 8 1-2 and 9 

Circumference of arm just below the elbow 16 1-2 to 18 

The foregoing is not to be taken as a fixed rule in comparing ordinary 
horses, nor even those well-bred. Eclipse, for instance, may be given as 
a most wonderful horse, differing in many material respects from these 
measurements. He was three inches taller at the withers, and yet higher 
in the croup than at the withers. His head was of the same length as 
the average given, but it is said to have been twelve inches across at the 
forehead. He was a big horse in every respect ; tall, lengthy, capacious 
in body, higher behind than before, his neck and back long, the loin 
roached, his limbs would by some be called long, but they were strong 
with large joints, but fine ; his quarters straight, square and extended ; 
thighs long and muscular ; shoulders only moderately oblique, and of 
fair depth ; his knees and hocks broad and well formed ; head small, and 
as will be observed from its great breadth of forehead, Arab-like. On 
the whole it would probably be difficult to improve the proportions of 
Eclipse, simply as a weight-carrying racer. For the hunting field, the 
fine saddle horse, or any of the uses to which practical men put their 
^orse&^ aside from fiat racing, select as many of the superior points of 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



161 



Eclipse as vou can find, hut leave out the low withers and high croup. 
The horse that will come to the standard that we have given in the dia- 
gram, is as a rule the horse to buy. 




IV. The Cleveland Bay for Profit. 
Of late years this admirable and stylish horse as improved from th» 



Ig2 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

old farm horse of fifty 3'^ears ago, has attractea attention in the United 
States, and especially in the West, where many fair specimens have been 
imported. As showing the characteristics when standing extended and at 
rest, we give a portrait of a pure bay, in color, with a star in the fore- 
head, and one white hind fetlock. These dashes of white not detracting 
from the style of any horse, and showing breeding. It is a horse show- 
ing blood and breeding, with lofty crest, magnificent withers, round bar- 
relled, and clean limbed, a coat like satin, and a head of excellent pro- 
portions. Colts from such a horse out of large, roomy mares of good 
style, will alwaj^s sell for high jDrices. When you find such a stallion do 
not be afraid to buy, he will pay, and his foals will pay for their feed and 
training. 

The old fashioned horse of this race, the Cleveland bay, is extinct and 
gone. The present form is the result of crosses with staunch thorough- 
breds, giving better form throughout, greater speed and eminent style. 
We consider them as among the very best from which to breed stylish 
animals from proper mares. Horses that may do the ordinary farm work 
until six years past, and then be sold at good prices for stylish omnibus, 
express, light draft, and carriage horses in our cities. Farmers who have 
large, Avell built mares, wishing to breed colts that shall have size enough 
for any farm or road work ; that will breed to uniform color, so that they 
may be easily matched ; that will have style — not that of the blood horse, 
or light driving, or trotting horse — will do well to investigate the char- 
acteristics of the Cleveland bays. Canada has acquired a high reputation 
for stylish, well matched coach horses. It is founded in a great measure 
upon crosses produced by breeding the modern Cleveland bays upon large, 
handsome mares of more or less breeding. 

Such horses if properly cared for will do eight or nine miles an hour, 
in harness, and under the saddle may be pushed up to twelve miles an 
hour: are active in all their gaits, tractable, easily managed, intelligent, 
fast walkers, always ready for their feed, and as eager at labor, as they 
are kind and intelligent every where. The late Henry William Herbert, 
(Frank Forester), a thorough horseman, an accurate judge of horse flesh, 
and a finished writer, in his voluminous Avork, "The Horse of America," 
thus describes the original Cleveland bay, and also the improved horse of 
his time : "The Cleveland bay, in its natural and unmixed form, is a tall, 
powerfully built, bony animal, averaging, I should say, fifteen hands 
three inches in height, rarely falling short of fifteen and a half or ex- 
ceeding sixteen and a half hands. 

The crest and withers are almost invariably good, the head bony, lean, 
and well set on. Ewe-necks are, probably, rarer in this family than in 
any other, unless it be the dray-horse, in which it is never seen. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 163 

Ihe faults of shape to which the Cleveland Bay is most liable are 
narrowness of body, and flatness of the cannon and shank bones. Their 
color is universally bay, rather on the yellow bay than on the blood bay 
color, with black mane, tail, and legs. 

They are sound, hardy, active, powerful horses, with excellent capabili- 
ties for draft, and good endurance, so long as they are not pushed beyond 
their speed, which may be estimated at from six to eight miles an hour, 
on a trot, or from ten to twelve — the latter quite the maximum — on a 
gallop, under almost any weight." 

The large and more showy of these animals, of the tallest and heaviest 
type, were the favorite coach horses of their day ; the more springy and 
lightly built, of equal height, were the hunters, in the days when the fox 
was hunted by his drag, unkennelled, and run half a dozen hours or 
more, before he was either earthed or worn out and Avorried to death. 
Then the shorter, lower, and more closely ribbed up were the road 
hackneys, a style of horse unhappily now almost extinct, and having 
unequally substituted in its place a wretched, weedy, half-bred or three- 
quarters-bred beast, fit neither to go the pace with a weight on its back, 
nor to last the time. 

From these Cleveland Bays, however, though in their pure state nearly 
extinct, a very superior animal has descended, which, after several steps 
and gradations, has settled down into a family common throughout all 
Yorkshire and more or less all the mid-land counties, as the farm horse, 
and riding or driving horse of the farmers, having about two crosses, 
more or less, of blood on the original Cleveland stock. 

The first gradation, when pace became a desideratum with hounds, was 
the stinting of the best Cleveland Bay mares to good thorough-bred 
horses, with a view to the progeny turning out hunters, troop horses, or, 
in the last resort, stage-coach horses, or, as they were termed, machines. 
The most promising of these well bred colts were kept as stallions ; and 
mares of the same type, with their dams, stinted to them produced the 
improved carriage horse of fifty years ago. 

The next step was putting the half-bred fillies, by thorough-breds out 
of Cleveland Bay mares, a second time to thorough-bred stallions ; their 
progeny to become the hunters, while themselves and their brothers were 
lowered into the carriage horses ; and the half-bred stallions which had 
been the getters of carriage horses were degraded into the sires of the 
new, improved cart horse. 

V. The Light Harness Horse. 

In many cases, where the roads are superior, and the animal is used in 
a vehicle of the lightest construction, to carry only one person, size is 



164 



ILLUSTEATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



not always necessary. Very many horses of fourteen and a half hands, 
are exquisitely handsome and capable of very fast work. One of the 
best we ever knew was a St. Lawrence mare fourteen hands high, that 




very few large horses could get by on a smooth roaa — the "Baby," a* 
«vlie was called — when driven on a track, always going as a pacer. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



165 



The illustration on opposite page is of an English light harness, two- 
wheeled turn-out, a vehicle now occasionally patronized by fast living 
young gentlemen. For style of going, the horse is as perfect as he is 
handsome in his make-up, but not showing the high knee action consid- 
ered stylish with all two-wheeled turn-outs. 




VI. Saddle Horses of all Gaits. 



It has always seemed a pity that farmers sons have not taken mor© 
kindly to the saddle than American youths do. It is well enough for 



11 



166 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



men of mature age to favor the buggy or light wagon, but every youno- 
man and woman raised in the country should be taught to sit a horse per- 
fectly, and to manage him at all gaits. In the South this is the case, but 




in the North the perfect saddle-seated rider is rarely found. Lately, 
thoroughly trained saddle horses are much sought after in our cities, and 
certainly there is no place where they may be so perfectly trained as in 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 167 

the West. Every respectable farmer should have at least one well 
trained saddle horse to sell when called for. Twelve months training 
will put them in form. For good wear-and-tear, compact, able as a 
good leaper, of fine form, and undoubted bottom for any distance, the 
illustration, page 165, will give an idea of what such a saddle horse 
ahould be. 

VII. The High-bred Hunting Horse. 

When a long stride, great leaping powers, and ability to go long 
distances at high speed is required, the horse should be not less than 
one-half to three-quarters bred. A greater proportion even is favored in 
the South, where the passion for hunting is only second to that in 
England. The illustration of a horse of extra good action as given on 
page 166, will be seen to combine size, indicating capacity for carrying 
o-reat weio-ht : hio-h breedinor, as shown in the crest and head ; wonderful 
lungs ; great length of hip and limbs, and being near perfection as possi- 
ble ; a hio-h caste horse that will not fail his rider in time of need. 

VIII. Bacing Horses. 

There is one more class of saddle horses wortny of special notice : the 
thorough-bred racing horse, the foundation upon Avhich has been built all 
that is valuable in every horse where speed, bottom, elegance, and great 
bone, sinew and muscle in every respect are required. It is the fact that 
on the race course there have been schemes and tricks practiced, probably 
there always will be those scandalous in the extreme, but frowned upon 
by all breeders of respectability. Among the more respectable associa- 
tions rules of the most stringent character have been drawn, and fairly 
jlived up to. If dishonest jockeying can be still further eliminated the true 
animus of the turf may have a bright future before it in still farther 
improving the breed of staunch thorough-breds, capable of carrying 
weight, and with bottom to get the rider two, three and four miles at 
high speed. These are what are really wanted, and not those that at the 
end of a quarter or a half mile are entirely blown and jaded, or as an 
Englishman would express it, quite "pumped out." 

IX. What the Racer Should Be; 

The model racing horse should be from fifteen and a half to sixteen 
hands high, full and muscular in his build, with clean, sound limbs, short 
backed, round in the barrel, with long hips, deep and oblique shoulders, 



168 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



a rangy and not too muscular neck ; a head fine, bony and with rather 
large muzzle and prominent nostrils, broad in the forehead, with a full, 
bright, but mild eye, denoting a high nervous temperament, uniting 



r; g 




jrreat courage with docility. The accompanying illustration will give a 
correct idea of a horse of great speed, high courage and lastmg powers 
of endurance. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 1G9 

X. To Avoid Vices and Defects— How to Detect. 

They are legion, and he who at present buys any horse, whether for 
speed or work, must be on his guard against them. Among the prin- 
cipal disabilities to be guarded against are : 

1. — Bone spavin, curb, ring-bone and splints. — To detect theee 
look at the horse from before and behind, for spavin and curb at the 
hocks ; for ring-bone, at the fetlocks ; and for spliiits, below the knee. 
Feel the bones at all these parts for tenderness or enlargement. If they 
appear, reject the horse instantly. He will be worthless as a sire, or for 
riding or driving. 

2. — Stumbling. — Examine the knees to find if they are scarred, or 
show the marks of previous injuries, or that have been operated upon for 
callosities. Then walk him over somewhat rough ground, and at a slow 
pace, with an entirely loose rein, to see if he trips or goes weaker on one 
leg than on the other. If he is a stumbler, he is the most dangerous 
animal a man can own, unless it be a kicker ; in fact, more so than 
the latter, since kicking may be guarded against, when knowing the vice. 

3. — ^Kicking. — If this is suspected, the animal will lay back his ears 
if approached in an apparently careless manner, though horses do this 
sometimes from mere playfulness. If they are vicious, they will lay 
their ears more completely back, and the eyes will also denote their in- 
tention. Examine the stall where it is known they have stood for 
marks of their hoofs, and above all, give the animal a chance to show his 
propensity when the groom is not near. 

4. — Pulling at the halter or bridle when tied. — Tic him up in a 
close 3'ard, with a halter he can easily break, leaving him quite alone for 
about half an hour, to exhibit his propensity if he will. 

5. — Crib-biting. — If the horse is a confirmed crib-biter, his teeth — 
the central incisors — will show wear where he has grasped objects to en- 
able him to get leverage to perform the operation. Tie him out to a 
stump, or at a post about three feet high, and watch him, no person 
beins; in his sisrht. 

6. — Balking and backing. — Horses seldom balk under the saddle ; 
when they do, they are dangerous in the extreme, often stopping sud- 
denly when under motion, or backing into dangerous places. It is dif- 
ficult to detect, for they will sometimes go days, weeks and even 
months all right, and then suddenly show the vice. As a rule, it is 
exhibited by bad tempered, badly trained horses. A warrant from a 
respectable owner is the best guarantee. It may sometimes be detected, 
if a person strange to the horse mounts and attempts to start him sud- 



170 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

denly. In harness it may often be detected by the manner in which the 
animal starts and travels. 

7. — The Rogue. — The rogue is the horse of vices ; he may take the bit 
in his mouth and run away, he will rear, back, kick, strike, bite, and do 
twenty other unpleasant tricks, not always from pure vice, but often from 
exhuberance of spirits, or from being crossed in some way. They gen- 
erally perform well enough after they have found out that their rider is 
their master. They are difficult to detect in their vices, except by the 
thorough horseman, who is well versed in every expression and act of the 
horse. 

8. — BiSHOPED Teeth, — So named from the scoundrel who invented 
filing an old horse's teeth to make him look young, even to burning and 
blackening the cups formed. A careful study of the chart of the horse's 
teeth, given in this book, will enable any person to detect this, since it is 
impossible to cover the shrinking of the gums, by which the teeth show 
narrow, and are peculiar in shape. 

9. — ^Weak Eyes. — ^Whatever the occasion, have nothing to do with a 
horse with bad eyes. Bring the animal from a rather dark stable just in- 
side the door where the full light may strike the eyes. Examine the lids 
and pupils carefully, to see if there is any considerable shrinking ; the 
eye should be able to bear the full light. Horses are sometimes near- 
sio-hted, and also far sighted. Nearly all shying horses become so either 
from defect in vision or from cowardice. 

10. — Moon Eyes. — This is a specific ophthalmy, from Avhich one or 
both eyes periodically change color, and during the paroxysm it may be- 
come entirely blind. During the interval the eyes look natural. It is 
better, if the buyer suspects this, to take a warranty against it. 

11. — Blindness. — ^This is sometimes difficult to detect by the ordinary 
observer by looking at the eyes. In rare cases the eyes may seem natural. 
A blind horse, however, may be detected by his mode of progression. 
As an example we give an illustration showing the mode of progression 
of a totally blind horse. 

XI. Other Faults and Imperfections. 

The disabilities noticed in the previous sections are those of positive 

unsoundness, or else of determined vice. Some others that should not 

be overlooked, are easily discovered by careful examination and test. 

These are : 

1. Glass Eye. — This, if not complicated with specific disease, does 

not interfere with sight in any respect. It is a serious defect, simply so 

fftr as looks are concerned. Usually only one eye has this peculiar white 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 171 

o;lassy appearance, the pupil perfect, and the iris quite natural. It should 
affect the price of the animal, only as detracting from elegance. 




THE MODE IN WHICH A HORSE PROGRESSES WHEN BLIND. 

2. White Spot. — Sometimes a small white spot will appear on th6 
eye of a young horse, generally after three years of age, and usually 
near the outer corner. It has a peculiar cloudy appearance, sometimes 
increasing to the size of a hemp seed, and occasionally larger. The 'du- 
ration is variable, sometimes lasting for years, and again disappearing in 
a short time. It really impairs the vision but little, if any. Unless its 
history is known a veterinary surgeon should decide whether it is incipient 
cataract or not. Some veterinarians have termed it spurious cataract, but 
this is entirely a misnomer. The name white spot describes it perfectly, 

3. Roaring. — This is the result of obstruction in some part of thti 
larynx or trachea, impeding the breath, and causing a peculiar roaring 
sound when the animal is in motion. It is rarely found in the United 
States, being chiefly confined to draft horses. It is often the result of 
chronic cough. In England it is quite common, and when present in a 
horse of fast work, will render him worthless for the road. It may be 
discovered by urging the horse to a fast gait. 

4. Oblique Tail, or Wry Tail. — This is caused by contraction of 
the muscles of the tail on one side. It may sometimes be improved by 
a surgical operation, and should be considered a serious defect in any 
horse, and especially so in a driving horse. 



172 illustrated stock doctor. 

5,. Turning the Toe of the Hoof out or in Unduly, Sand Cracks, 
Quarter Cracks, Dish Hoofs, Over-reaching, Interfering, etc., are 
all to be looked for before finally buying a horse. They are aU disabili- 
ties that should not be present where the purchaser pays full price for 
the animal. They are, however, all so apparent that the purchaser is to 
blame if he fails to see them. 

6. Wolf Teeth. — These rudimentary teeth, which are found in some 
horses but not in mares, and which have been supposed by ignorant 
persons to produce blindness, and other diseases, are entirely harmless, 
except for the abrasion they sometimes occasion to the tongue and cheeks. 
If they do so they are easily taken out by any sensible blacksmith. In 
fact it is quite well to extract them, not that they will produce serious 
disease, but simply because they are not of any value, are useless to the 
animal, and may occasion slight inconvenience. 

7. Shying. — This is one of the most dangerous habits a horse can 
have, whether it be occasioned by cowardice — seldom the case ; injudi- 
cious punishment — more common ; or from defective eyesight, or from 
all these combined. If you are so unfortunate as to have a shying horse 
endeavor to break him of the vice by allowing him to examine objects of 
which he is afraid, by speaking soothingly to him, but never by whipping 
or spurring him. When he shows a disposition to shy turn his head to 
l-ather than from the object. Stop him ; let him approach the object and 
touch it with his nose, for soon he will approach it himself. If simply 
caused by nervousness, he may thus be cured. If caused by being short 
sighted there is no means of relief. Before you buy a horse be certain 
that he has not this infirmity, as dangerous a one as it is disagreeable. 
Such an animal is only fit to be driven by the side of another horse who 
will keep him to his work, and upon which he at length will come to 
depend, or of being driven as a wheeler in a team of four horses. 



CHAPTER XI. 



HOW TO BUY, CONTINUED. 



BUYING CHEAP HORSES. 11. COLOR, IN RELATION TO VALUE. III. ACTION. IV. 

FAST-WALKING HORSES. V. WHAT A HORSE SHOULD BE, VI. WHAT CONSTITOTES 

UNSOUNDNESS, VII. ILLUSTRATION OP FORM AND SYMMETRY. VIII. THE BODY AND 

LIMBS. IX. THE BODY AS STANDING FACING YOU. X. FRONT VIEW OP FORE-QUAR- 
TERS, SHOWING DIFFERENT BAD CONFORMATIONS. XI. THE HIND-QUARTERS. XII. 

THE VIEW FRO.M BEHIND. XIII. WHAT NOT TO BUY. XIV. BUYING FOR BLOOD. 



I. Buying Cheap Horses. 

In the preceding chapter on this important subject we have endeavored' 
to show some of the principal points to be considered in buying a horse, 
especially those relating to the use for which they are intended. There 
is one rule that will always apply iii buying any horse. Never buy him 
because he is offered at a price evidently far below his worth, that is, 
except it be from a friend that you can trust, who does not want the 
horse himself, and wishes to do you a favor. These cases will be found 
very rare. In every other case rest assured the horse has some danger- 
ous vice, or is permanently unsound. In this country never buy a horse 
at any price which has any appearance of broken knees by falling. 
Hunting horses are too rare here for one to have gotten the hurt in the 
field, and, accidentally, by being put at a barrier bej^ond his power. 

Reject a horse with any weakness in his eyesight, unless you have use 
for a blind horse, then buy him at a blind horse's price. A one-eyed 
horse may do useful, but not elegant work. Never buy a lame horse at 
any price, until you are assured that the disability is not permanent. 

Foot lameness, except it may be from a slight corn, and consequently 

173 



174 ILLUSTllATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

curable, should be an insuperable bar to purchase. You can never patch 
up a bad foot. Therefore be sure you always try the intended purchase 
on a hard road. Many game horses, dead lame on hard roads, will o-et 
along without much flinching on soft roads, or the turf. If you are 
certain as to the cause of the lameness and know you can cure it, the 
purchase, as a speculation, may do ; but never rely on the assurance of 
the horse dealer. It is his business to sell. 

Never buy a narrow chested horse for hard service. It shows weak 
lungs and those liable to inflammation. If for saddle, avoid a very broad 
chested horse, though as trotters they are sometimes fast. The best and 
most perfect chest is a medium between the narrow and broad chest. 

A tucked up washy looking horse should be avoided. They may indeed 
do for light work or short drives, but arc totally unfit for real work. 

In buying avoid all defects in the wind ; be sure the disability has not 
been temporarily covered up, by special means known to horse dealers. 
A whistler or roarer may show no indication of his infirmity at a slow 
pace, or up to a certain speed. Beyond that it is apparent. Broken 
wind is an incurable infirmity and probably as distressing to the horse as 
the asthma is to man. A horse may make more or less noise and yet not 
have broken wind. Any indication of this, however, is to be looked on 
with suspicion. 

In buying a horse his points of excellence and infirmity are better 
shown if only in fair working condition than when very fat. A horse 
very fat is pretty nearly a useless creature until his condition has been 
brought down to that of bone, sinew and muscle, with just sufficient fat 
to lubricate, so to speak, the working parts. Yet a horse for slow draft 
may be serviceable and carry far more flesh and fat than one used for 
fast work. Many superior horses have been ruined by hard driving when 
fat, or soft, 

II. Color in Belation to Value. 

It is a saying as trite as it is old that any color is good in a good horse. 
Yet a horse, however good otherwise, should be invariably rejected if his 
color is bad. For instance, it would essentially mark both an ignorant 
and vulgar person who would select a piebald, spotted, or otherwise 
extraordinary color for a carriage horse. It would savor of the circus 
or show ring. 

As saddle horses for gentlemen, self-colors are the best, and those dis- 
tinct. A star in the forehead and two white feet behind give character. 
A snip in the face, if large, is objectionable. Four white stockings more 
so. Bay, brown and dark chestnut are the preferable colors. If the 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 175 

horse is exceptionably stylish, black and dapple gray are good colors. 
Gray horses are often bad tempered, and black horses are not as a rule, 
docile. For ladies' use a dark cream color with white mane and tail, or 
that rare combination, a dark chestnut with darker tail and mane are ele- 
gant if of good form. So a strawberry roan, if unexceptionable in style 
and form, is elegant. 

For single or double light driving, all distinct colors are good. Uneven 
or curiously marked horses arc allowable in a fancy team — as a mismatch 
in distinct colors — as it is called. The colors should be distinct and in 
strong contrast, or else harmonious. A chestnut and a dark bay would 
be harmonious, and yet distinct colors. So would be a chestnut and a 
brown ; a cream with white mane and tail, and a chestnut with dark mane 
and tail Avould show a marked contrast, and yet be elegant ; so would be 
cream-colored horses so marked. A pure white and a jet black would be 
the most marked contrast possible, and not for a moment admissible, 
except both were faultless in form and style of going. Here in fact is 
where the fine art lies in teams of two distinct colors : Whatever the 
viismatch in color, the team should he as near alike in form and car- 
»nage as jpossible. 

m. Action. 

There are really but two styles of action ; low, smoorth, safe action, and 
high-stepping, showy action. The latter of little account except for 
parade and showing off on the road in connection with fine style, A 
high-stepping dolt is as unsafe as he is ungainly. The action that is 
slow and safe, and fast and safe, if combined in an animal is invaluable. 

A horse with really good action moves all his limbs evenly, and brinijs 
his hind legs well under him at every movement. Some horses with 
round action in front — paddlers they are called — are often staunch and 
sure-footed, but this is in spite of this action, not in consequence of it. 
Horses that straddle behind are often exceedingly fast trotters. Yet 
neither of these movements are what would be sought, either in a fine 
saddle horse or in a good harness horse. 

IV. Past-walking Horses. 

We have before stated that a perfect and fast walking gait was not 
only indispensable to every horse, but the most valuable gait a horse 
could have for every day use. Yet we seldom see a horse that will walk 
four and a half or five miles an hour, even when urged and in regular 1- 
2-3-4 time, nodding his head harmoniously in cadence. If a purchaser 
gets such a horse, or one that will do four miles under the saddle with- 



176 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



out stumbling, shuffling, dropping the step or breaking, be sure you have 
a good one at speed, if he has speed, for many great walkers are so 
broad chested that they cannot trot fast, and in galloping they will roll. 




Yet occasionally a horse will be found good at all gaits. When so, it is the 
result of exceptionably good form and careful training. He who can so train 
jv liorse, may get a long price for his trouble and skill. 



THE HOESE, HOW TO BUY. 177 

V. What a Horse Should Be. 

We have been very minute in stating the points of perfection in a 
horse, and have been particular in urging that the lungs, limbs and feet 
should be super-excellent. In addition, and as from one of the best 
authorities, we quote from the late H. W. Herbert, upon the physical 
structure of the horse, before illustrating physical perfection and perfect 
conformation. Mr. Herbert says : 

"The points of the physical structure of a horse on which the most, 
indeed the whole of his utility depends, are his legs. Without his loco- 
motors all the rest, however beautiful it may be, is nothing worth. 
Therefore, to these we look first. The fore-shoulder should be long, 
obliqucl}^ set, with a considerable slope, high in the withers and thin 
above. The upper arm should be very long and muscular, the knee 
broad, flat and bony, the shank, or cannon bone, as short as maybe, flat, 
not round, with clean, firm sinews ; the pastern joints moderately long 
and oblique, but not too much so, as the excess produces springiness and 
weakness ; the hoofs firm, erect or deep, as opposed to flat, and the feet 
generally large and round. In the hind-legs the quarters should be 
large, powerful, broad when looked at in j^rofile, and square and solid 
from behind. The hams should be sickle-shaped, not straight, and well 
let down, so as to bring the hocks well toward the ground. The hocks 
should be large and bou}^, straight, not angular and convexly curved in 
:heir posterior outlines ; the shanks, corresponding to the cannon bones, 
short and flat, and the hind feet similar in form to the front. The back 
should be short above, from the point of the withers and shoulder-blade, 
which ought to run Avell back to the croup. The barrel should be round, 
and for a horse in which strength and quickness are looked to more than 
great speed and stride, closely ribbed up. A horse can scarcely be too 
deep from the tip of his shoulder to the intersection of his fore-leg — 
which is called the heart-place — or too wide in the chest, as room in 
these parts gives free play to the most important vitals. The form of the 
neck and setting on of the head are essential not only to the beauty of 
the animal, but to the facility and pleasure of riding or driving him ; 
^ence, with an ill-shaped, short, stubborn neck, or ill set on head, the 
animal cannot by any possibility be a pleasant-mouthed horse, or an easy 
one to manage. The neck should be moderately long, convexly arched 
above from the shoulders to the crest, thin where it joins the head, and 
so set on that when }delding to the bit it forms a semi-circle, like a bended 
bow, and brings the chin downward and inward until it nearly touches 
the chest. Horses so made are always manageable to the hand. The 
converse of this neck, which is concave above and stuck out at the 



178 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

windpipe like a cock's wattle, is the worst possible form ; and horses so 
made almost invariably throw up their heads at a pull, and the most exciep- 
tionable of brutes, regular star-gazers. The head should be rather small, 
bony, not beefy, in the jowl ; broad between the eyes, and rather concave, 
or what is called basin-faced, than Roman-nosed, between the eyes and 
nostrils. The ears should be line, small and pointed ; the eyes large, 
clear and prominent, and the nostrils "wide and well opened. A horse so 
framed cannot fail, if free from physical defects, constitutional disease 
and vice, to be a good one for any purpose — degree of strength, light- 
ness and speed being weighed in accordance with the purpose for which 
he is desired." 

VI. What Constitutes Unsoundness. 

1. — SjMviii, whether it be bog spavin, blood spavin or bo7ie spavin, 
when sufficiently developed to be known. 

2. — Ossification of any of the structures adjacent to any of the joints 
and also without doubt ossification of the lateral cartilages. 

3. — Corns are considered as constituting unsoundness, but they must 
be discovered within a short time, say a few days of the 23urchase. 

4. — Curbs constitute unsoundness, but they m.ust be shown to exist 
at the time of the sale. 

5. — Founder or Laminitis, is unsoundness whether it produces lame- 
ness or not, for if it has existed the laminae will have been injured and 
the horse will be lame when worked. 

6. — Pumiced Foot is unsoundness as evidence of laminitis. 

7.. — Quittor may render the horse permanently unsound. 

8. — Ring-bones and side-bones constitute unsoundness. 

9. — A Nerved Horse, is unsound as showing the existence of disease 
for which the operation was performed, and also from the division of 
the nerves. 

10. — String-Halt is unsoundness. 

11. — Thrush is so when severe., 

12. — Breaking down, even though the horse has recovered so as not 
to go lame. 

13. — TJiicTcening of the Bach Sinews, or suspensory ligament, if known 
to exist, is unsoundness. 

14. — Brohen Wind, TJiick Wind, Whistling and Roaring are all con- 
sidered as constituting unsoundness, as forming impediments in breath- 
ing, injuring the animal for drawing or other active service. 

15. — Farcy and Glanders. 

16. — Grease and Mange. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 170 

17. — Cough, if it lasts. A horse with a chronic «ough is cfearly 
unsound. 

18. — Megrienis, if it can be shown that the horse has had an attack 
before the sale. 

19. — Ophthahnia, if it occurs soon after the purchase. The evidence 
of a veterinary surgeon may be necessary to show the previous presence 
of the disease. 

20. — Cataract, however slight, constitutes a horse unsound. 

21. — Broken knees, when the joint is injurea. 

There are also vices for which a horse may be returned. These are : 

1. — Biting, when clearly vicious. 

2. — Bolting, or running away. 

3. — Crib-biting. \ 

4. — Kicking, when shown to be viciouo. 

5.^^-Balking. 

^ .-—Rearing . 

7 — Shying, when habitual. 

8. — Weaving in the stable ; that is, the horse throwing his head and 
body from side to side with a peculiar motion. 

VII. Definitiou of TJnsoundness and Vice. 

Unsoundness may be considered to be the existence of disease or alte^~ 
ation of structure sufficient to impair the natural usefulness of the horse. 
Vice may be defined as the prevalence of a habit which interferes with 
the natural usefulness of the horse. In unsoundness or vice, however, 
either must be marked, as for instance the following diseases or accidents 
would not constitute unsoundness : 

1 — Slight bog spavin; 2 — broken knee, when the joint is not injured ; 
3 — capped hocks, or elbows ; 4 — contractions of the foot, unless the re- 
sult of disease, laming the horse ; 5 — curby hocks; 6 — splints; 7 — thor- 
ough pin, and 8 — thrush, are not unsoundness in their incipient stage, or 
in a mild way. But the buyer should refuse all such except, perhaps, in 
the case of thrush. 9 — Cutting is not unsoundness, except the horse 
be lame at the time of sale, neither 10 — soreness of the joints from labor, 
or 11, wind galls. 

They are found often upon colts, but if the animal be lame reject him. 
When a horse is bought or warnmtee, it must be written and concisely 
so. Do not allow verbiage to cause litigation. The following form will 
cover the whole ground : 

Received (insert place and date) of Mr (insert name) Dollars, 



]30 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

for (describe horse or mare, and pedigree of same, if any) warranted years 

old (slate age) sound, free from vice, and quiet to ride or drive. 

When filled out this might read as follows : 

Received, St. Louis, Mo., March 1st, ISSO, of Mr. John Doe, five hundred dollars for a 
bay mare by Lancer, dam Lady, warranted jive years old and under six years, sound, free . 
from vice, and quiet to ride or drive. EicnAED Roe. 

ThiSjWith such careful examination as we have advised, ought to insure 
any buyer against danger in case the seller is solvent. 

VIII. Illustrations of Form and Symmetry. 

The head of the horse is the seat of intelligence, and to the conforma- 
tion of the head we must look not only for intelligence but docility and 
courage, or the opposite character, as we must look to the teeth for indi- 
cations of his age, to the nostrils as indicating his capacitj^ for breathing, 
to the muzzle and jaw for indications of capacity and feeding, and to the- 
eye and ear as showing fire, courage, and good temper. No man's head and 
face are more expressive than are these elements of a horse. 

Speed and bottom, which means the bone and muscle of good breeding 
whatever the family of the horse may be, is the sine qua non desired in a 
horse. His mission is labor, work of some kind, whether it be carrying 
a man on his back, or trotting to a wagon, or hauling a load through the 
mud. The head of the horse is, therefore, one of the first things to be 
looked at. The extract we have given a few pages back, from one of the 
most eminent writers of this country on the horse, will convey an idea of 
what a riding or drivins: horse should be. Tlie nearer the horse, for 
general utility, comes to the illustrations we have given, the better he 
will be. 

The horse for heavy draft, while coarser, more stocky and heavier in 
his frame, should conform to the general characteristics except that he 
should be more upright as to his shoulders, and not so flexible as to his 
limbs ; then the better will he be. In fact one of the best draft horses 
we ever owned was a three parts bred Monmouth Eclipse, seventeen hands 
high, weighing 1250 lbs., pretty well up on legs, and those of exceeding 
flexibility. But when he got down to work he appeared to go close to 
the ground. This getting down to work — this getting close to the ground 
with the body, so every bone and sinew may exert the greatest possible 
leverage, is one of the .fine arts of training. It really brings the oblique 
shoulder of the blood-horse straight in the collar a possibility few horses 
have the knack of, attaining naturally. 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 181 

Explanation. — The illustrations we give on page 182 show a side 
and front view of heads of ])looded horses, that may be taken as a type of 
what should constitute as near perfection as may be. Those on page 183, 
side and front views of heads are bad. By comparing them with the text 
the reader may form a good idea of characteristics. Observe in the side 
view, p;ige 162, a fine head, tapering to muzzle, the chin, the prominent 
and yet brio-ht, clear and soft eve, with a rather prominent brow ; the 
shape and setting on of the ears ; the strength of jaw, and at the same 
time its fineness ; how the head is set on to the neck, and the fine, clean, 
muscular neck as well. In the front view observe especialh^ the width 
between the eyes, the eyes being in fact apparently at the side of the 
head, and 3'et looking straight forward. Observe the cheek bones, 
widening and strengthening the lower part of the head ; the temporal 
bones at the side of the eye ; and the occipital bone at the top of the 
head between the ears. Especially observe the nostrils and lips as to 
flexibility and size. Turn back the folds at the end of the nostril, and it 
will be found you can look clear into the passage, showing a moist and 
healthy surface, or the reverse. 

Let us now examine the side and front views of head on page 183. 
The side view at the top shows a head somewhat heavy in character, the 
nose and lower jaw thick to excess. Observe the peculiar formation of 
the nose. It is not the dish face of the first illustration, giving temper, 
accompanied with intelligent obedience. The ej^ebrows are prominent, 
the head broad, but the expression indicates not only fire but malice. 
The muzzle is that of a cruel horse, the intelligence that of self-will. 
The ears, although of good shape and breeding, are thrown back, ana 
the head is set on at too great an angle with the neck. 

The figure to the left shows the front view of a badly formed head. It 
will be noticed that it is of nearly the same M'idth throug-hout. The eve.'^ 
are placed very different from those of the front view of good head oii 
page 182 ; too close together, and too much in front. The expression 
of the eye shows a stubborn disposition ; the ears are good enough, bnl 
not held in that position of intelligent action as shown in the lower figure 
o<i page 182. They are pointed too close together. 

The figure of the front part of a head to the right, on page 183 
shows a head not badly formed, but the general expression of the face 
shows doltishness, and the drooping ears, and the expressi )n of the eyes 
show not only a cruel but a stupid disposition. 

The lower side view of head and neck on same page shows a head indi 

eating a horse that will not only be wild sometimes, but sulky ; a self 

willed, obstinate brute, deficient in intelligence. The profile is curved, 

giving a Roman nose ; the eyebrows are raised, giving the eye a wild 
12 



182 



'LLUSTRATKD STOCK DOCTOR. 




sii«B AND FRONT VIEW OF HEADS — GOOD. (See Explanation), 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



183 




SIDE AND FRONT VIEW OP HEADS— BAD. {See Explanation), 



184 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



expression, and with the firm jaw, a stubborn character. Following the 
subject still farther, we may find all the gradations of character, including 
the exhibition of nervous timidity, fear, idiocy, and even insanity ; for 
that there are horses subject to aberration, from mere hallucination to 
actual insanity, there is no doubt. The latter the most dangerous trait 
in a horse, since neither caresses nor punishment can cure. 




BIDB VIEW OF FORE-QUAKTERS, SHOWING A GOOD SHOULDER. (See Explanation.) 

IX. The Body and Limbs. 

Explanation. — Following up the subject on pages 184, 186, and 
187, we present side views, showing good and bad fore-quarters. The 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 185 

first illustration shows as near perfection as may be in the shoulder for 
staunch qualities, good action and a fast walk. The neck muscular, but 
without superfluous flesh, but with plenty of substance where it joins the 
shoulder ; the shoulder oblique and deep ; the shoulder-blade high, help- 
ing to give stability to the withers : the breast prominent, but tapering 
down to where the legs come out of the body ; the arm long, muscular, 
and yet tapering ; the joints large, but yet firm and compact ; the fet- 
locks of fair length and yet flexible ; and the hoofs of good size, round, 
of good depth, tough and sound. An animal possessing the conformation 
as shown, will indicate a horse good for any jDurpose where speed and 
long continued powers of endurance are required. "While the illus- 
trations we give are perfect of their kind, and more valuable than any 
written description alone can be, yet the living animal must be studied, 
not only at rest, but in motion. The harness horse, however, need not 
have so oblique a shoulder as we have shown. In fact, few horses, even 
of the best class, do. 

So the trotting gait, combining speed with high action and grand style 
might be considered vile in a saddle horse. In fact, the saddle horse 
should have a springy yet smooth motion, and except for show on the 
road, this will be found to be best for fast and easy work in harness. In 
practice much of this is often sacrificed, in pleasure horses, for the sake 
of mere style. The breeding of such horses is a fine art, often a costly 
one ; yet those which fail in the style and action necessary to command 
the highest price as road and saddle horses, will be found to amplv repay 
the breeding for the general purposes of the farm and for the road. 

Explanation. — On page 186 are illustrations showing, the upper one, 
to the left, a straight shoulder, a heavy chest, and legs placed too far 
under. The arm seems longer than it is because it lacks muscularity ; 
the shanks, while not positively weak, do not show due strength near the 
knee and pasterns, and are not as strong as they should be. 

The upper figure, to the right, shows a shoulder as bad as the prece- 
ding one, and also weak legs and pasterns, the length from hoof to joint 
above being too great. 

The left hand figure at bottom of same page, shows a shoulder fairly 
well placed, but with the legs set too much under, and the pasterns too 
straight. Such a conformation Avill give the horse the appearance of 
standing on the toes. 

The lower figure to the right, shows what old age, hard work, abuse, 
or all combined, may bring any animal to, that originally may have been 
not only well bred, but of fair quality throughout. Watch for such 
limbs in buying, and avoid them. * 



186 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




'""im. 



''//■<' 




"}/" 






SIDE VIEW OF 



FORE-QUARTERS, SHOWING BAD CONFORMATION. {See Explanation). 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUYo 



187 




FRONT VIEW, SHOWING BREAST AND LIMBS— GOOD. (See Explanation), 



188 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

X. The Body as Standing Facing You. 

The body of the horse viewed in front should present an oval shape, 
squared off from the arm or elbow joint in front to the point of the 
shoulder as on page 187. The perfect contour of breast, and especially the 
magnificent muscularity of the arm is near perfection. The neck rising 
grandly from the chest shows the perfect proportion of the parts each to 
the other ; the knee and fetlock joints are strong and compact, gradually 
rounded to meet the shank or leg and bones of the pastern joint. The 
hoofs are staunch, tough, strong, with nothing about them to denote a flat foot, 
yet rather open behind, showing a perfect hoof. 

Let us now examine the blood horse of the present day as quoted 
from Herbert, and also that of the ancient Greeks as written upon by 
Xenophon. It will show that in those days the breeding of horses was a 
fine art, as was also equestrianism as exhibited in the exquisite sculptures 
that have come down to us. Yet the quotation we make wili show that the 
horse of the Greeks, useful and admirable as he was, was what the English 
would call a cab or Galloway, with a dash of thorough blood, and what 
we would call pony built with a dash of thorough blood — something in 
fact like a chunky Morgan horse. The quotation nevertheless will make 
a good study for the young horseman, and is as follows : 

"We will write how one maybe the least deceived in the purchase 
of horses. It is evident then that of the unbroken colt one must judge 
by the construction, since, if he have never been backed he Avill afford no 
very clear evidences of his spirit. Of his body then, we say it is 
necessary first to examine the feet, for as in a house it matters not how 
i.-ie may be the superstructure if tiiere be not sufficient foundations, so 
in a war horse there is no utility, no, not if he have all other points perfect 
but be badly footed. But in examining the feet, it is befitting first to 
look to the horny portion of the hoofs, for those horses which have the 
horn thick are far superior in their feet to those which have it thin. Nor 
will it be well if one fail next to observe whether the hoofs be upright, 
both before and behind, or low and flat to the ground ; for high hoofs 
keep the frog at a distance from the earth, while the flat tread with equal 
pressure on the soft and hard parts of the foot, as is the case with bandy- 
legged men. And Simon justly observes that well footed horses can be 
known by their tramp, for the hollow hoof rings like a cymbal when it 
strikes the solid earth. But having begun from below, let us ascend to 
the other parts of the body. It is needful, then, that the parts above 
the hoofs and below the fetlocks (pasterns) be not too erect, like those of 
the goat ; for legs of this kind being stiff and inflexible, are apt to jar 
the rider, and are more liable to inflammation. The bones must not, 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 189 

however, be too low and springy, for in that case the fetlocks are liable 
to be abraded and wounded if the horse be galloped over clods or stones. 
The bones of the shank (cannon bones) should be thick, for these are 
the columns which support the body ; but they should not have the veins 
and flesh thick likewise. For if they have when the horse shall be 
galloped over difficult ground they will necessarily be filled with blood, 
and will become varicose, so that the shanks will be thickened, and the 
skin be distended and relaxed from the bone ; and, when this is the case 
it often follows that the back sinew gives way and renders the horse 
lame. But if the horse when in action bends his knees flexibly at a walk 
you may judge that he will have his legs flexible when in full career ; for 
all horses as they increase in years increase in the flexibility of the knee. 
And flexible goers are esteemed highl}^ and with justice, for such horses 
are much less liable to blunder or stumble than those which have rigid, 
unbending joints. But if the arms, below the shoulder-blades, be thick 
and muscular they appear stronger and handsomer, as is the case also 
with a man. The breast also should be broad, as well for beauty as 
strensfth, and because it causes a handsomer action of the fore-leus, 
which do not then interfere but are carried well apart. 

"Again, the neck ought not to be set on like that of a boar, horizontally 
from the chest ; but, like that of a game cock, should be upright toward 
the chest, and slack toward the flexure ; and the head being long should 
have a small and narrow jaw bone, so that the neck shall be in front of 
the rider, and that the eye shall look down at what is before the feet. A 
horse thus made will be the least likely to run violently away, even if he 
be very high spirited, for horses do not attempt to run away by bringing 
in but by throwing out their heads and necks. It is also very necessary 
to observe whether the mouth be fine and hard on both sides, or on one 
or the other. For horses which have not both jaws equally sensitive, are 
likely to be too hard mouthed on one side or the other. And it is better 
that a horse should have prominent than hollow eyes, for such an one 
will see to a greater distance. And widely opened nostrils are far better 
for respiration than narrow, and they give the horse a fiercer aspect ; for 
when one stallion is enraged against another, or if he l)ecome angry while 
being ridden, he expands his nostrils to their full width. And the loftier 
the crest, and the smaller the ears the more horse-like and handsome is 
the head rendered ; while lofty withers give the rider a surer seat, and 
produce a firmer adhesion between the body and shoulders. 

'A double loin is also softer to sit upon and pleasanter to look upon 
than if it be single ; and a deep side, rounded toward the belly, renders 
the horse easier to sit, and stronger and more easy to keep in condition ; 
and the shorter and broader the loin, the more easily will the horse raise 



190 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

his fore-quarters and collect his hind-quarters under him in going. These 
points, moreover, cause the belly to appear the smaller; which if it be 
large at once injures the appearance of the animal and renders him 
weaker and less manageable. The quarters should be broad and fleshy in 
order to corresjjond with the sides and chest, and, should they be entirely 
firm and solid they would be the lighter in the gallop, and the horse would 
be the speedier. But if he should have his buttocks separated under the 
tail by a broad line, with a wider sj^ace between them, and so doing he 
will have a prouder and stronger gait and action, and will in all respects 
be the better on them. A proof of which is to be had in men, who, 
when they desire to raise any thing from the ground attempt it by 
straddling their legs not by bringing them close together." 

XI. Front View of Fore-quarters, Showing Different Bad Conformations. 

Explanation- — Oi^ P^g^ 1^1 ^^^^ upper left hand figure shows the legs 
fair to the knee, but from thence down, bad, and with toes turned very 
much out. 

The next figure on the left, is very bad, the knees turned out and the 
toes turned in ; a dangerous horse, and unfit for driving or riding. 

The lower figure to the left is as unsightly as possible ; the legs spready, 
weak, straddling, and with the toes turned out. Such a horse may be 
tolerably sure-footed, if carefully managed, and not hard-driven, but one 
never to be depended upon. 

The next figure at right of bottom, is bad all over, weak-limbed, knock- 
kneed and splay-footed. A horse never to be depended upon and un- 
serviceable in the extreme. 

Between these there are many gradations, which those who study these 
pages may profit by examining and comparing with the front view of a 
perfect shape given on page 187, and which carried fully in mind will 
go a great way in enabling one to form a pretty accurate opinion in buy- 
ing a horse. 

XII. The Hind-quarters. 

It has been said that the fore-quarters of a horse are simply to hold him 
up, Avhile the hind-quarters propel the machine. This in a sense is true, 
but a horse, however good his hind-quarters be, must not only have the 
fore limbs good enough to hold him up, but to keep him out of the way 
of the hind feet, and at the same time assist in propelling the body. In 
fact, the whole animal should be composed of parts working harmoni- 
ously together, each assisting the other while doing its own work ; 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



191 





FRONT VIEW OP FORE-QUARTERS, SHOWING DIFFERENT BAD CONFORMATIONS. 



192 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



nevertheless the hind-quarters are the propelling power, especi^illy when 
under the gallop. For then the motion is communicated by a succession 
of leaps, acting more in the nature of a balance than in walkiuo- or in 




GOOD HIND QUARTERS. {See Explanation.) 



trotting. In order that the hind-quarters may do their work effecnreiy, 
there must be a strong loin, ample and muscular quarters, great leno-th 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 193 

of hip, strong, dense bones, sinews like whip-cord, strong joints and flat 
and wide legs. ^ 

In order to determine this the purchaser should observe first, looking 
at him from the side, whether he stands resting perpendicularly on every 
leo- alike. The leg-s should not be straddled outside of their true position, 
neither should they be gathered together, or in horse-men's phrase, as 
though he were trying to stand in a half bushel. He should stand straight, 
square, and distinctly on every leg. If he stands with the hind legs be- 
hind their true position, induce him to move his fore legs forward, to 
find if such a position gives him ease. Examine him as before stated for 
splints, damaged back sinews, ring-bones or side-bones in the fore limbs ; 
and in the hinder ones for bone blood or bog spavins, curbs or thorougli 
pin, as previously described. If he stands as in the figure given on page 
192, and if he is free from blemish, one may go a long way to find 
a better. 

Examine especially whether the pasterns, outline of the hock joints, 
are nearly perpendicular or angular, or whether the}^ present a convex 
curvilinear protuberance just above the union of the shank bone. If not 
there Avill be little danger of curb, or a tendency to throw them out. If 
the hocks are drawn in the horse will appear cow -hocked, a malformation 
as serious as it is ungainly, for thus the animal will be weak. If the 
hind-legs are wide apart and the horse straddles in going forward, while 
it may not weaken his stride it is not elegant. However true it be that 
some fast and stronc; trotters straddle — as iiroino; wide is termed — this 
should be avoided. The illustration on page 192 will show accurately 
good hind-quarters, as those on page 194 will show bad ones. 

On page 194 the figure at the upper left side would be called fine and 
in every way good to the inexperienced buyer. The buttocks are round 
but lack character, and the legs are too straight and far behind. 

The figure to the right is bad in every respect — goose-rumped, cat- 
hammed, with the legs thrown far back to equalize the strain ; the ankles 
also weak. 

The figure to the lower left on same page shows a fair quarter, but the 
legs are thrown too far forward, and the animal stands too straight on the 
pasterns. 

The figure to the right is really not badly formed as to the quarter, but 
the position is cramped and bent, and the limbs badly placed. 

XIII. The View ftom Behind. 

The view of the horse as seen from behind should show good square 
quarters, full and perfectly shaped gracilis^ as those muscles are called 



194 



ILLUSTEATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




eJDB Yisw or niND quabtebs-bad. (See Explanation). 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 



195 



which give the peculiar swelling shape to the inside of thigh . These should 
be egg-shaped, or rather should swell from nearly a point below and them 
gradually decrease in size till lost to view near the rump bone. 




BACK VIEW OF HIND QUARTERS— GOOD, {See Explanation). 

The outside muscle of the tibia, or great bone of the leg above the 
knee, cannot well be too large. The tendons connecting with the hocks 



196 



ILLUSTEATED STOCK DOCTOR. 





BACK VIEW OF HIND-QUARTERS— BAD. (See Explanation). 



THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 197 

should be strong and well presented to view. The hocks large, firm, 
strong and well knit, but smooth and free from blemish, as should be the 
fetlock joints. If the horse is flat-footed he has a weak hoof, which 
should never go with a strong muscular horse. 

When the animal moves forward, observe that the feet are lifted 
squarely, carried straight forward, without turning or straddling. If so, 
and the conformation is as presented in the rear view of the horse on page 
195, then if you have attended minutely to the other directions, and the 
movement is satisfactory, you need not fear to buy the horse. Ho will 
not fail you in time of need. 

As showing defects, in various gradations and malformation in the 
hind-quartej's, we refer the reader to the figures on page 196, a study of 
which will enable the observer to steer clear of splay-footed, pigeon-toed, 
bow-leo:o:ed or cow-hocked brutes. 



■'os^ 



XIV. What Not to Buy. 

Never buy a horse unbroken or half broken, unless you are thoroughly 
competent to train him, or else have some one to do so on whom you 
can depend. Never buy a horse overloaded with fat, expecting him to 
remain so under work. The first thing to be done with such a horse is 
to get him rid of the superfluous fat and water. This takes time and 
takes money. Besides you never can know the real defects of a horse 
"very fat." An ox or a hog perfectly fattened, is pleasing to the eye. 
They are intended for succulent joints and steaks, or for hams, bacon, 
or pickled pork. A fat horse, except before the close coach of some 
wealthy and aged spinster or widow, is woefully out of place. 

Never buy a horse because he is big, unless you want him for slow and 
heavy draft. Light horses are for light driving. A horse weighing 
eleven hundred is heavy enough for ordinary driving, and generally bet- 
ter than a heavier one. A pair of horses weighing twenty-four hundred 
pounds is good enough for any ordinary work that comes, and heavy 
enough for any city teaming, except when wanted as show horses before 
some brewer's wagon, or as horses of slow draft on heavy trucks. 

Don't buy a cheap horse, expecting perfection. The two never yet 

went together. Perfect horses are not so plenty. Indeed they are so 

scarce as to be entirely beyond the means of any except the very wealthy. 

They are seldom seen even among this class. In fact perfection lies only 

in degree. A horse may be measurably perfect for our purpose, and yet 

quite defective for others. Therefore buy a horse for what you want, 

and expect to pay the honest price for what you get. Again, unless you 
13 



198 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

are a judge, buy of some dealer who has a reputation to lose, and the 
means to back up any guarantee he may make. 

XV. Buying for Blood. 

In buying for fast work, buy blood ever}^ time, whether the work de- 
sired is to be trotting to the wagon or carrying the owner under the 
saddle. 

In buying blood, as a breeder, whether stallion or mare, never fool 
away any money on a half or three-quarters bred sire, expecting to get 
high caste horses. With a staunch thorough-bred of trotting action, you 
may successfully breed good trotters and workers on mares of cold blood, 
if they be of good size and form and are roomy. But for racing do not 
expect a cold-blooded mare to bring a very fast one, however good the 
size, except it may be by chance, and a rare chance at that. 

In breeding for any purpose select the best of the class. Staunch 
thorough-breds for fast work ; handsome thorough-breds for show horses. 

For draft select from families that have been bred for generations for 
this work. Above all do not buy horses and mares that happen to strike 
your fancy, expecting to start a new breed. Life would be all too short. 
It would be far more sensible to begin where the last man left off. 



CHAPTER XII. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 



EARLY HISTORY OP THE ENGLISH BLOOD HORSE. HOW HE WAS IMPROVED. THE 

AMERICAN BLOOD HORSE. CELEBRATED AMERICAN HORSES. HISTORY OF THEIR 

PERFORMANCES. 



The care taken in the breeding and training of horses for the chase 
and for racing in Great Britain, extends back, according to the best au- 
thority, to long before this people were converted co Christianity ; in 
fact, to long before the Christian Era. 

Just when and how horses were introduced into Great Britain is not 
certain, but it seems clear that they were well known there long before 
the Roman conquest, and that they bred horses not only for domestic jiur- 
poses but also for war and for racing, seems true, from words in the 
ancient British language, as rhediad, a race ; rheda, to run — from the 
Gaulish language rheda, a chariot, showing that these words applied to 
the racing of horses. Hence the inference that horses came by way of 
Gaul, and that chariot races were anciently one of the pastimes of the 
people. 

The Romans found different vehicles in use in Britain, includinof the 
war chariot. Youatt infers that from the cumbrous structure of the car, 
the hardness of the roads, and the furious manner in which the drivin*'- 
was done, that the ancient British horses must have been not only active, 
but powerful in a wonderful degree ; and he says that Ceesar thought 
them so valuable that many of them were carried to Rome, where they 
were much esteemed. 

After the evacuation of England by the Romans and its occupation by 
the Saxons, increased attention was paid to the breeding of English 
borses, and after the reign of Alfred running horses ^tere brought there 

199 



200 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

from Germany, yet these should not be understood as meaning racing 
horses as the term is now used. They are supposed to have been light, 
speedy horses, adapted to the chase or for the roads, as opposed to the 
heavy war horse, capable of carrying a man at arms with his armor. 

It does not appear that until the time of Charles I. horses were kept 
exclusively for racing. Yet even before Athelstan's time English horses 
had come to be prized on the continent, and in Athelstan's reign many 
Spanish horses were imported, showing clearly that so long ago as this 
the English were fully alive to the importance of the continued improve- 
ment of their horse stock. 

William the Conqueror is recorded to have used great pains in improv- 
ing the horse stock of the country, after the conquest of Great Britain 
by the Normans, through the introduction of fine horses from Normandy, 
Flanders and Spain, and a-ccording to Beal it would seem that as early as 
631 people of rank distinguished themselves by often appearing on horse- 
back, and from which it would be natural to infer that thus early horses 
were kept for pleasure riding, since saddle horses are known to have been 
used during the Eoman occupation of Britain, and cavalry horses long 
before the Christian Era. 

The first Arab horse would seem to have been imported in the reign of 
Henry I., an Arab horse having, with his accoutrements, been presented 
by Alexander I. of Scotland, to the church of St. Andrew. 

In the twelfth century a race course was established in London, at 
what was since called Sraithfield, and which was also a horse market. 

King John paid great attention to the importation of horses ; one hun- 
dred chosen Flemish stallions having been imported at a single time. 
Later it is recorded of Edward II. that he purchased thirty war horses 
and twelve heavy draft horses. 

Edward III., upon the occasion of buying fifty Spanish horses, made 
application to France and Spain for safe conduct for them, and so impor- 
tant was the horse stock of England considered that the exportation of 
stallions was forbidden, and this prohibition was continued up to and 
during the reign of Henry VII. 

In the reign of Henry VIII it was decreed that no stallion should be 
allowed to run at large on any waste or common where animals pastured, 
if under the height of fifteen hands, and that all foals, fillies or mares 
likely to breed undersized or inferior animals, should be killed and bu- 
ried. 

All the nobility, gentry and higher orders of the clergy, were compell- 
ed by an act to keep a number of horses proportioned to their rank, and 
even a country parson, whose wife was entitled to wear a French hood or 
velvet bomiet (no person below a certain rank being allowed to wear such 



KACING, OR TURF HORSES. 20.1 

a hood) was obliged to keep an entire trotting stallion, under a jDenalty 
of twenty pounds sterling. So, also, it was made compulsory that every 
deer park and rural parish should maintain a certain number of full-sized 
mares and stallions. It is also interesting, as being the first mention 
made in English history, that Henry VIII. and Charles Brandon, Duke 
or Suffolk, rode a race in the presence of Queen Catharine, and that in 
his reign the first annual races on a regular race course Avere instituted. 

H. W. Herbert, in his work. The Horse of America, thus sums up 
the whole matter in relation to the value of Oriental blood in Enohmd, in 
the time of Oliver Cromwell : 

It is now pretty generally admitted that, whether Barb, Turk, Syrian, 
or Arab of the desert proper, all oriental blood has had its share and 
influence in reinvigorating the blood of the English thoroughbred, and 
giving to it those peculiar qualities which cause it, with justice, at this 
day, to be esteemed the best, completest, and most perfect animal in the 
world. 

In what degree these animals have ministered to our now dominant 
strain, is by no means to be ascertained ; but it is to be noted that most 
of the early imported foreign stallions were not Eastern Arabs. 

During the protectorate, Oliver Cromwell, who, though he was com- 
pelled by the necessity of conciliating the absurd prejudices of the 
Puritans, to forbid racing, was yet an ardent lover of the horse, and an 
earnest promoter and patron of all that belongs to horsemaiiship, pur- 
chased of Mr. Place, afterwards his stud-master, the celebrated "White 
Turk" — still recorded as the most beautiful south-eastern horse ever 
brought into England, and the oldest to which our present strain refers. 
To him succeeds Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, his Helmsley Turk, and 
to him Fairfax's — the same great statesman and brave soldier, who 
fought against Newcastle at Marston — Morocco Barb. 

And to these three horses it is that the English race-horse of the old 
time chiefly owes its purit}^ of blood, if we except the royal mares, 
specially imported by Charles II., to Avhich it is — mythically, rather than 
justly — held that all English blood should trace. 

Of all succeeding importations, those, which are principally known and 
referred to, as having notoriously amended our horse — by proof of stock 
begotten of superior qualities, and victorious on the turf through long 
generations — but few are true Arabs. 

We have, it is true, the Darley Arabian, the Leeds Arabian, Honey- 
wood's White, the Oglethorpe, the Newcome Bay Mountain, the Damascus, 
Cullen's Brown, the Chestnut, the Lonsdale Ba}^ Combe's Gray and Bell's 
Gray Arabians ; but what is generally called the Godolphin Arabian, as 
it seems now to be the prevailing opinion — his origin not being actually 



202 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

ascertained — was a Barb, not an Arab from Arabia proper. Against 
these, again, we find Place's White Turk, D'Arceys Turk, the Yellow 
Turk, Lister's, or the Straddling Turk, the Bjerly Turk, the Selaby 
Turk, the Acaster Turk; Curwen's Bay Barb, Compton's Barb, the 
Thoulouse Barb, Layton's Barb Mare, great-great-grandam of Miss 
Layton ; the Eoyal Mares, which were Barbs from Tangier, and many 
other Barb horses, not from the Eastern desert, heading the pedigrees of 
our best horses. 

In this connection, I would observe that the very reasons for which the 
Marquis of Newcastle condemned the Markham Arabian — viz., that when 
regularly trained he could do nothing against race-horses — on account of 
which condemnation he has received a sneer or a slur from every writer 
who has discussed the subject, are those which, at this very moment, 
prevent prudent breeders from having recourse to oriental blood of any 
kind . 

They cannot run or h'st against the English horse. They have not the 
size, the bone, the muscle, the shape, if we except the beautiful head, 
fine neck, thin withers, long, deep and sloping shoulders, which are the 
inevitable characteristics of the race. Therefore, all men who breed with 
an eye to profit, — and howsoever it might have been in the olden times 
of the Turf, there are few now who have not an eye to it, either as 
hoping to win on the turf, or to produce salable stock — prefer to put 
their mares to known English winning horses, proved getters of winners, 
of unquestioned bottom and stoutness, rather than to try stallions of the 
desert blood, concerning which nothing is known beyond the attested 
pedigree, and the visible shapes. 

Farther our authority gives a list of all foreign, and the most celebrated 
native stallions which were used for covering in England in 1730, or just 
150 years ago. They are as follows : 

FOREIGN STALLIONS IN 1730. 

The Alcock Arabian, the Bloody Buttocks Arabian, the Bloody Shoul- 
dered Arabian, the Belgrade Turk, the Bethel Arabian, Lord Burlington's 
Barb, Croft's Egyptian horse, the Cypress Arabian, the Godolphin Ara- 
bian, Hall's Arabian, Johnson's Turk, Litton's Arabian, Matthew's 
Persian, Nottingham's Arabian, Newton's Arabian, Pigott's Turk, the 
Duke of Devonshire's Arabian, Greyhound, a Barb, Hampton Court 
grey Barb, Strickland's Arabian, Wynn's Arabian, Dodsworth, a Barb. 

NATIVE STALLIONS IN 1730. 

Aleppo, Almanzer, Astridge Ball, Bald Galloway, Bartlet's Childers, 
Basto, Bay Bolton, Blacklegs, Bolton Starling, Bolton Sweepstakes, 
Cartouch, Chaunter, Childers, Cinnamon, Coneyskins, Councillor, Crab, 
Doctor, Dunkirk, Easby Snake, Fox, Foxcub, Graeme's Champion, Grey 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 203 

Childers, Grey Crofts, Hampton Court Cbilders, Harlequin, Hartley's 
Blind Horse, Hip, Hobgobling, Hutton's Blacklegs, Hutton's Hunter, 
Jewtrump, Jigg, Lamprey, Leedes, Marricle Oysterfoot, Partner, Royal, 
Shuffler, Skipjack, Smale's Cliilders, Soreheels, Squirrel, Tifter, True- 
blue, Woodcock, Wyndham. 

The importation of racing horses was, without doubt, first made to 
America in Virginia and Maryland. Already had race-courses been 
established there previous to 1753, and during the exodus from England, 
of the Royalists, to the South, it is undoubtedly true that they brought 
with them descendants of such horses as were covering: with success in 
England. Certain it seems that quite early in the eighteenth century 
there were a considerable number of thorouohbred horses from the most 
celebrated English sires. That the perfect record has not come down to 
us is probably due to the fact that, during the Revolutionary war the 
records were either lost or destroyed between the shock of contending 
armies. 

Spark was owned by Governor Ogle, of Maryland, previous to Brad- 
dock's defeat, having been presented to him by Lord Baltimore, who 
himself received him as a gift from the then Prince of Wales, father to 
George HI. Spark was a most celebrated horse, and probably one of 
the first of hioh distinction brought to America. 

Other celebrated horses early imported are said to have been, Wilkes' 
old Hautboy mare, afterward known as Miss Colville. Governor Ogle 
also imported Queen Mab, and about 1750 Col. Tasker brought to Mary^ 
land the celebrated mare Selima, the progenetrix of much of the mightiest 
blood of the country. Li 1752 he won a sweepstake of 500 pistoles, 
beating Col. Byrd's renowned Tryall, Col. Taylor's Jenny Cameron, and 
a mare owned by Col. Cameron. 

Nearly about the same time, there were imported into Virginia, Routh's 
Crab, by old Crab, dam by Counsellor, daughter of Coneyskins, sup- 
posed to be in or about 1745. Li 1747, Monkey, by the Lonsdale Bay 
Arabian, dam by Curwen's Bay Barb, daughter of the Byerly Turk and 
a Royal mare. He was twenty-two years old when imported, but left 
good stock. In 1748, Roger of the Vale, afterwards known as Jolly 
Roger, by Roundhead, out of a partner mare, Woodcock, Croft's Bay 
Barb, Dicky Pierson, out of a Barb mare. Roundhead was by Fljdng 
Childers, out of Roxana, dam of Lath and Cade, by the Bald Galloway, 
out of a daughter to the Acaster Turk. Woodcock was by Merlin, out 
of a daughter of Brimmer. Dickey Pierson by the DodsAvorth Barb out 
of the Burton Barb mare. 

In about 1764, was imported Fearnought, got by Regulus out of Sil~ 
vertail by Whitenose, grand-dam by Rattle, great grand-dam by the 



204 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Darley Arabian, great great grand-dam Old Child mare, by Sir Thomas 
Greslev's Arabian, groat great great grand-dam. Vixen, by Helmsley 
Turk, out of Dodsworth's dam, a natural Barb. Eegulus was b}'- the 
Godolphin Barb, dam Grey Robinson by the Bald Galloway, grand-dam 
by Snake out of Old Wilkes' Hautboy mare. Rattle was ])y Sir H. 
Harpur's Barb out of a Royal mare. Whitenose was by the Hall Ara- 
bian out of dam to Jigg. Thus Fearnought is come of the very highest 
and purest blood in England, and has left his mark largely on the blood- 
horse of Virginia. It is said that, before his time, there was little be- 
yond quarter racing in Virginia, that his progeny were of uncommon 
figure, and first introduced the size and bottom of the English race-horse 
into America. This must be taken, however, cum grano salts, as it is 
evident from what has been stated in regard to Selima, that four-mile 
racers Avere the fashion in Maryland at least fifteen years before that 
date, and it is only to be understood in the case of second-rate racers, 
that quarter running was in vogue at this period. 

These capital horses were shortly followed by Morton's Traveller, who 
was probabl}^ got by Partner, a grandson of the Byerly Turk, and grand- 
sire of King Herod, dam by the Bloody Buttocks Arabian ; grand-dam 
by Grey-hound, a Barb ; g. grand dam by Makeless ; g. g. g. dam by 
Brimmer ; g. g. g. g. dam by the White Turk ; g. g. g. g. g. dam by 
Dodsworth, a Barb ; g. g. g. g. g. g. dam Laydon Barb mare. 

Makeless was by the Oglethorpe Arab out of Trumpet's dam. She 
w^as a pure Barb by Dodsworth out of the Lay ton Barb mare. Brimmer 
W'as by the Yellow Turk out of a royal mare. 

These were probably the best early horses that w^ere imported into 
America ; and to these, with the mares Selima, Queen Mab, Jenny Cam- 
eron, Kitty Fisher, Miss Cblville, and a few others of about the same 
period, may be traced all, or almost all the families of running horses 
now existing in the United States, in a greater or less degree, and with 
nearly as much certainty as the English champions of the olden day may 
be followed up to imported Arab and Barb on both sides. 

This being most interesting history, we quote from The Horse of Amer- 
ica, to show, how much the United States is indebted to the South for the 
foundation of its mighty racers of the present day, and owing undoubt- 
edly to the great interest the old planters of the South and their de- 
scendants have taken in field sports. The record is as follows : 

In Virginia, Col. John Tayloe, Messrs. Hoomes, Selden and Johnson ; 
in Maryland, Governors Ogle, Ridgely, Wright, lAoyd and Sprigg, who, 
as it has been remarked, seemed by their practice to acknowledge that 
the keeping up of a racing stud was a portion of their gubernatorial 
duty ; and in South Carolina, Messrs. Hampton, Washington, McPher- 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 205 

son, Alston and Singleton, were as early, and have continued to be as 
constant and undeviating patrons of the American turf, as have the 
Queensburys, Rutlands, Wyndhams, Bentincks, Fitzwilliams, and other 
equally renowned turf names, been supporters of this noble sport on the 
old English greensward. 

From so early a date as that of the ante-revolutionary cracks and 
champions, such as Celer, Traveller, Yorick, Tryall, Ariel, Partner, Marc 
Antony, Regulus, Flag of Truce, Goode's Brinniier, Butler's Virginia 
Nell, Bel Air, Calypso, Gray Diomed, Cincinnatus, Virago, Shark, Black 
Maria, by Shark, Leviathan, Gallatin, Fairy, Cup-bearer, Collector, 
Amanda, Ball's Florizel, Post Boy, Oscar, Hickory, Maid of the Oaks, 
Bond's First Consul, Sir Archy, Potomac, Pacolet, Duroc, Hampton, 
Tuckahoe, and others, the names of which alone would fill a volume, we 
can easily bring down in these States — and the others colonized from 
them, both with men and horses, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and more 
recently Alabama — one uninterrupted and stainless succession of noble 
racers, to the day when the descendants of Sir Archy, that veritable Go- 
dolphin Arabian of the Turf of America, began to show upon the course 
—and when the renown of American Eclipse began to call the attention 
of the whole world, and of the mother country most of all, whence was 
derived that transcendent stock, which in all other countries has degene- 
rated, but in this has continued to rival the honors of its remotest ances- 
try by the performance of American race horses. 

As being of value, we give also the history and pedigrees of some of 
the most celebrated horses of the days succeeding the revolutionary war. 
They are : 

First Medley — Imported into Virginia in 1783, by Gimcrack, dam 
Arminda by Snap, out of Miss Cleveland by Regulus ; g. gr. dam M'age, 
by a son of Bay Bolton ; g. g. gr. dam by Bartlett's Childers ; g. g. g. 
gr. dam by Honey wood's Arabian; g. g. g. g. gr! dam the dam of the 
two' True Blues. Gimcrack was b}^ Cripple, out of Miss Elliott, by 
Grisewood's Partner, gr- dam Celia by Partner, g. gr. dam by Bloody 
Buttocks, g. g. gr. dam by Greyhound, g. g. g. gr. dam Brocklesby 
Betty. 

Cripple was bv the Godolphin Arabian, out of Blossom by Crab, gv 
dam by Childers out of Miss Bel voir, by Grantham. 

Medley was one of the best sires ever imported into America. He got 
Atalanta, Bel Air, Boxer, Calypso, Gray Diomed, Gray Medley, Lamp- 
lighter, the Opossum Filly, Pandora, Quicksilver, Virginia, and others — 
racers in a high form, and themselves the getters of racers. 

Secoxd Shark — ^Foaled in 1771, and imported into Virginia b;v' 



206 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Marske, out of the Snap mare, gr. dam Wag's dam, by Marlborough, 
out of a natural Barb mare. 

Marske, sire of Eclipse, was by Squirt, dam by Foxcub, gr. dam by 
Coneyskins, g. gr. dam by Hutton's Gray Barb. 

Squirt was by Bartlett's Childers, dam by Snake, gr. dam Hautboy. 
Marlborough was by the Godolphin Arabian, dam large Hartley mare. 

Shark's most distinguished progeny are : Americus, Annette, Black 
Maria, dam of Lady Lightfoot, Opossum, Shark, Virago, and many 
others. 

Third Diomed — Foaled in 1777. Imported into Virginia 1798. He 
was by Florizel, dam by Spectator, gr. dam by Blank, g. gr. dam by 
Childers, g. g. gr. dam Miss Belvoir, by Grantham. 

Florizel was by Herod, dam by Cygnet, gr. dam Cartouch, g. gr. dam 
Ebony by Childers, g. g. gr. dam old Ebony Basto mare. 

Herod Avas by Tartar, out of Cypron, by Blaze, out of Selima, &c. &c. 

Diomed is probably the greatest sire of the greatest winner-getters ever 
brought into this countr3\ Had he got none but Sir Archy, out of im- 
ported Castianira — who brought him to America in her bellj' — that re- 
nown alone would have been more than enough ; for scarce a recent 
horse in England, unless it be PotSo's, has so distinguished himself as a 
progenitor. 

He begot Bolivar, Diana, Dinwiddle, Duroc, Florizel, Gallatin, Grac- 
chus, Hamlintonian, Hampton, Hornet, King Herod, Lady Chesterfield, 
Madison, Marske, Nettle-top, Peace-maker, Potomac, Primrose, Sir Ar- 
chy, Top-gallant, Truxton, Virginius, Wonder, and many others. Most 
of the horses named above were the greatest runners of their day, and 
the getters of the greatest racers and sires to the present time. Boston, 
procably the very best horse that ever ran on American soil, was by Ti- 
moleon, grandson of Sir Archy, the best son of Diomed ; while Fashion, 
the very best mare that ever ran on this side the water, by her dam. Bon- 
nets of Blue, daughter of Reality, was great-granddaughter of that same 
noble stallion ; and by her grandsire Sir Charles, sire of Bonnets and son 
of Sir Archy, was also his great-granddaughter, a second time, in the 
maternal line. 

Fourth Gabbriel — Foaled 1790, imported into Virginia, was got by 
Dorimant, dam Snap mare, gr. dam by Shepherd's Crab, g. gr. dam, 
Miss Meredith by Cade, g. g. gr. dam Little Hartley mare. 

Dorimant was by Otho, dam Babraham mare, gr. dam Chiddy by 
Hampton Court Arabian, out of the Duke of Somerset's Bald Charlotte. 

Otho was by Moses, dam Miss Vernon by Cade, gr. dam by Partner, 
g. gr. dam Bay Blood}'' Buttocks, g, g. gr. dam by Greyhound, g. g. g. 
^r. dam by Makeless, g. g. g. g. gr. dam by Brimmer, g. g. g. g. g. gr. 



RACING. OR TURF HORSES. 207 

dam by Phice's White Turk, g. g. g. g. g. g. gr. dam by Dodsworth, g. 
s. fir. 2,'. ff- 2:. Ji". d'. dam Layton's violet Barb marc. 

Moses was by the Chedworth Foxhuuter, dam by the Portland Arabian, 
gr. dam, the dam of the Duke of Bridgewater's Star, she by Kichard's 
Arabian. 

Gabriel was brought into Virginia, and became, like the preceding 
horses, very famous for splendor of his get and their great performances. 

He got Oscar, Post Boy, and others. The former of whom, dam by 
imp. Medley, bred by General Tayloe, is his most celebrated son. He 
was a good runner, and his blood tells in many of our best modern stal- 
lions and mares, especially in the Southern States. 

Fifth Bedford — Foaled in 1792, imported into Virginia. He was 
got by Dungannon, dam Fairy, by Highflyer, gr. dam Fairy Queen by 
Young Cade, g. gr. dam Routh s Black Eyes by Crab, g. g. gr. dam the 
Warlock Galloway, g. g. g. gr. dam b}^ the Byerly Turk. 

Dungannon was by Eclipse out of Aspasla, by Herod, gr. dam Doris 
by Blank, g. gr. dam Helen by Spectator, g. g. gr. dam Daphne by the 
Godolphin Arabian, g. g. g. gr. dam by Fox, g. g. g. g. gr. dam by 
Childers, g. g. g. g. g. gr. dam by Makeless, g. g. g. g. g. g. gr. dam, 
Sister to Honeycomb Punch, by the Taffolet Barb. 

The year of Bedford's importation is ^ot exactly known. He was a 
great stallion, and there is hardly a family of horses in the Southern 
States which do not in some degree, more or less, partake of his blood. 
He was a singularly formed horse — a rich ba}'^ — with a peculiar elevation 
on his rump, amounting in appearance to an unsightliness, if not to an 
absolute deformity. This mark, known as the Bedford Hump, he has 
transmitted to his posterity, and, whatever may have been the original 
opinion as to its beauty, it has been worn by so many celebrated winners, 
that it has come of late to be regarded as a foreshadowino; of excellence, 
rather than a deformity. It has been worn by Eclipse, Black Maria, her 
brother. Shark, Boston, Argyle, and many other horses of great note. 

Bedford got; ^olus, Cup-Bearer, Fairy, Lady Bedford, Lottery, 
Nancy Air, Shj-^lock and others not inferior in repute. 

On the first settlement in Tennessee, previous to its admission as ii 
State into the Union, the early settlers began taking with them excellent 
stock fi-om Virginia and Maryland, and the blood of Janus, Jolly Eoger, 
Morton's Traveller, Pacolet and other worthies of the olden times, still 
percolates in rich luxuriance through the veins of their noble steeds. It 
has been always a gallant and a sporting State ; and I feel proud and 
happy — the rather that the history of the blood stock of Tennessee and 
of the neighboring State of Kentucky is nearly identical — to be allowed 
the opportunity of presenting to my readers a most valuable memoir of 



208 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the blood of its best equine families, considerately and kindly compiled 
for me from his own memoranda of old times, and from personal recol- 
lection of events, even before General Jackson and his contemporaries 
were on the turf, by a veteran turfman and a hereditary breeder, Mr. 
William Williams — to w^hom I take this occasion of tendering my most 
grateful and respectful thanks. 

Race Horses at the North. 

Prior to the Revolution there was a course for racing, near New York, 
about the centre of the county, called Newmarket, and one at eJamaica 
called Beaver Pond. As early as the year 1800 courses were established 
at Albany, Poughkeepsie and Harlem, New York. On these tracks 
purses of from one to four miles were contended for. In 1.804 an organ- 
ization was formed extending for five years. The Newmarket course w^as 
remodeled, and regular races were held in May and October of eachj^ear, 
at which purses were contended for at four, three and two mile heats. 

Amonir the celebrated horses of that time, some of Avhicli have left 
their impress to this d^y, were Tipp.oo Sultan, Hambletonian, Miller's 
Damsel and Empress. Among these, as worthy of especial mention, 
were Hambletonian, as the progenitor of mighty trotting stock, Miller's 
Damsel as the dam of American Eclipse, and Ariel, wdiose granddam was 
this gray mare Empress. American Eclipse was the king of the Amer- 
ican turf of his day, and Ariel may certainly be said to have been the 
queen, since out of fifty-seven races she was forty-two times the winner, 
seventeen of them having been four mile heats. They both of them may 
be said to rank with the best race horses of any age or country. 

The pedigree of Eclipse may be summed up in the language of Frank 
Forrester, as follows: American Eclipse, bred by Gen. Coles of L. I., 
foaled 1814 ; was got by Duroc, his dam the famed race mare Miller's 
Damsel, by imported Messenger, out of the imported Pot8os mare ; her 
dam by Gimcrack. Duroc, bred by Wade Mosely, Esq., of Powhatan 
county, Virginia, foaled 1809 : was got by imported Diomed, out of Mr. 
Mosely's "extraordinary race mare Amanda," by Col. Tayloe's famed 
gray Diomed, son of imported Medley. Thus far Eclipse's pedigree is 
unquestioned; for the balance see American Turf Register, p. 50, vol. 
4. Of Sir Charles Bunbury's Diomed, imported into Virginia 1799, hav- 
ing filled the measure of his glory," nothing more need be said. Mes- 
senger, foaled 1788, imported about 1800 into Pennsylvania, was also a 
race horse of repute at Newmarket; he won some good races, and lost 
but few. He was a gray, of great substance ; was got by Mambrino, a 
very superior stallion, his dam by Turf, son of Matchem, Regulus — Star- 
liiig — Snap's dam. See English Stud Book, and American Eclipse's ped- 
igree in full, American Turf Register, p. 51, vol. 4. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 209 

Of Ariel we find the following: Ariel's pedigree is worthy of her 
performances. Her own brothers — Lunce, a year older than herself, a 
distinguished runner that beat the famous Trouble, a great match — 
O'Kelly, that beat Flying Dutchman, Mary Randolph, and others, with 
such eclat as to bring $5,000 — and 8t. Leger in the great sweepstake in. 
Baltimore, where he was so unaccountably beaten, but has since beat 
Terror — her own sister Angeline, and half-brother Splendid, by Duroc, 
that was beaten at three years old, in a produce match, by Col. Jo}inson,s 
Medley — are all well known to fame. Her grandam Empress, has also 
been regarded one of the most renowned race nags and brood mares of 
the North. Octol)er, 1804, at four years old, she very unexpectedly 
beat the famous First Consul, for the Jockey Club purse, four-mile 
heats, at Harlem, N. Y. The first race he lost. 

Besides combining the three valued crosses of Herod, Matchem, and 
Eclipse, it will be observed Ariel's pedigree is "richly imbued with the 
best English blood ;" to which she traces almost directly from Childers, 
Partner, Crab, Snap, Cade, Spark, Othello, Gimcrack, Mambrino, Med- 
ley, PotSos, Messenger, Baronet, Diomed, &c. ; besides deriving her de- 
cent from the best early importations. No other stock probably par- 
takes so much of the Messenger blood — no less than four crosses ; with 
two, not very remote, from English Eclii^se, two from Gimcrack, two 
from imported Pacolet, and three from imported Spark. Her color sus- 
tains her valuable origin — running so much into the Arabian blood. 

Black Maria was another of the wonderful performers of the early 
jiart of the century, having been bred by Charles Henry Hall, Harlem, 
N. Y., and foaled June 15, 1826. She was sired by American Eclipse, 
dam Lady Lightfoot by Sir Archy, gr. dam Black Maria, by imported 
Shark; g. gr. dam the dam of Ving't un, by Clackfast, a half-brother 
to Medley, by Gimcrack ; g. g. g. dam Burwell's Maria, by Regulus. 

Of her dam, Lady Lightfoot, Frank Forrester says she was the most 
distinguished racer of her day, having won between twenty and thirty 
races, the majority at four-mile heats, and never having been beaten but 
once, except in her old age — her eleventh year — and then by Eclipse, on 
the Union Course. She was bred by the late Col, John Taloe of Va. and 
was foaled at Mr. Ogle's seat, Bel-air, Md., in June, 1812. 

Among the wonderful racers of forty years ago, Boston and Fashion 
will always be remembered as the two mighty examples of staunch 
prowess and well-deserved fame. 

Boston was foaled in 1833, bred by John Wickham, Esq., Richmond, 
Va. His sire was the celebrated Timoleon, out of an own sister of 
Tuckahoe, by Ball's Florizel ; her dam by imported Alderman, out of a 
mare by imported Clackfast ; her gr. dam by Symmes' Wildair, &c. 



210 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

He was a chestnut with white hind feet and a strip in his face, 15 1-2 
hands hisfh, rather short limbed, somewhat flat sided, but of immense 
substance, and his back a prodigy of strength. From 1836 to 1841 he 
ran thirty-eight times and won thirty-five races, twenty-six of which 
were four mile heats and seven three mile heats. His winnings were 
$49,500, and his earnings as a breeding stallion in 1841, $4,200, making 
a total of $53,700. 

Fashion was bred by William Gibbons, Esq., of Madison, N. J., and 
was foaled April 26, 1837. Of this mare it is recorded that it would be 
difficult to sit down over the Stud Book and compile a richer pedigree 
than hers, and the same remark will apply to Boston. Each is descended 
from the most eminently distinguished racing families on the side of both 
sire and dam, that have figured on the Turf for a hundred years. 
Fashion was got by Mr. Livingston's Imp. Trustee, out of the celebrated 
Bonnets o' Blue by Sir Charles, and she out of Reality — "the very best 
race-horse," says Col. Johnson, "I ever saw." Reality Avas got by Sir 
Archy, and her pedigree extends back through the imported horses Med- 
ley, Sentinel, Janus, Monkey, Silver-Eye and Spanker, to an imported 
Spfr.aish mare. Trustee, the sire of Fashion, was a distinguished race- 
horse in England, and sold at 3 yrs. old for 2,000 guineas to the Duke 
of Cleveland, after running 3d in the race for the Derby of 101 sub- 
scribers. He was subsequently imported by Messrs. Ogden, Corbiu and 
Stockton. Trustee was foaled in 1829, and was got by Catton out of 
Emma, by Whisker, and combines the blood of Hermes, Pipator, and 
Sir Peter, on his dam's side, with that of Penelope, by Trumpator, and 
Prunella, by Highflyer, on the side of his sire. Trustee is not a chance 
horse ; in addition to other winners of his family, in 1835, his own 
brother, Mundig, won the Derby of 128 subscribers. 

In her three year old form she won three of the races she ran and lost 
one, being beaten by Tyler after winning the second heat. In her four 
year old form she ran and won three races, one at two miles, one at three 
miles and one at four miles. 

Later, the palm of victory rested upon horses bred west of the Alle- 
ghanies and south of the Ohio river. Among the celebrated ones were 
Lexington, got in 1851 by Boston out of Alice Carneal. Lecompte, by 
Glencoe, out of Reel. Pryor, by Glencoe, out of Gypsy, own sister to 
Medoc, by American Eclipse. 

Still later, and within the last ten years, the laurels of southern bred 
racers on various tracks in America and England, are too well known to 
need recapitulation. 

As showing English and American vieM^s on the speed of race horses 
of twenty years ago, really the palmy days of the turf, and which con- 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 211 

tiiiued up to the late war, Stouehenge, from an English point of view, 
says : 

By an examination of the racing time-tables as recorded of late years, 
it will be seen that from 13 1-2 to 14 seconds per furlong is the highest 
rate of speed attained in any of our races, above a mile, and with 8 st. 
7 lbs. carried by three-year-old horses. In 1846, Surplice and Cymba 
won the Derby and Oaks, each running the distance in 2m. 48s., or ex- 
actly 14 seconds per furlong. This rate has never since that time been 
reached ; the Flying Dutchman having however, nearly attained it, but 
failing by two seconds — making his rate 14 seconds and one sixth per 
furlong. But the most extraordinary three-year-old performance is that 
of Sir Tatton Sykes over the St. Leger Course, 1 mile, 6 furlongs, and 
132 yards in length, which he ran in 3 minutes and 16 seconds, or at a 
rate of as nearly as possible 13 1-2 seconds per furlong. With an addi- 
tional year and the same weight, this speed has been slightly exceeded 
by West Australian, even over a longer course, as at Ascot in 1854, 
when he defeated Kingston by a head only ; running two miles and four 
furlongs in 4m, and 27s., or as nearly as possible at the rate of 13 1-2 
seconds and one-third per furlong. This performance is the best in 
modern days, considering the Aveight, the age, and the distance ; and it 
will compare very favorably with the often-quoted exploit of Childers 
over the Beacon Course in 1721, when, being six years old, he beat Al- 
manzor and Brown Betty, carrying 9 st. 2 lbs., and doing the distance in 
6m. 40s., or at the rate of 14 seconds and one-third per furlong. Thus, 
allowing him his year for the extra mile in the course, and for the 21bs, 
which he carried above the Kingston's weight, he was outdone by the 
latter horse at Ascot by one second per furlong, and likewise by West 
Australian at the usual allowance for his age. Again ; comparing these 
performances on the English Turf with the recently lauded exploits of 
the American horses, it will be found that there is no cause for the fear 
lest our antagonists in the "go-ahead" department should deprive us of 
our laurels. On the 2d of April, 1855, a time-match was run at New 
Orleans between Lecomte and Lexington, both four years old, in which 
the latter, who won, did the four miles, carrying 7 st. 5lbs., in 7m. 19 
3-4s., or as nearly as may be, 13 3-4 seconds per furlong. This is con- 
sidered by the Americans the best time on record, and is undoubtedly a 
creditable performance ; though when the light weight is taken into ac- 
count, not so near our best English time as would at first sight appear. 
On the 14th of April, Brown Dick and Arrow ran three miles over the 
same course in 5m. 28s., or at the rate of 13 seconds and two-thirds pc«* 
furlong ; the former a three-j^ear-old, carrying 6 st. 2 lbs., and the latter 
five years old, 6 st. 12 lbs. Thus it will appear that Kingston, of the 



212 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

same age as Arrow, and carrying 9 st. instead of 7 st. 12 lbs., run 2 1-2 
miles at a better rate than Arrow did bis 3 miles, by one-third of a sec- 
ond per furlong. And it has been shown that in the year last past, two 
horses exceeded the greatest performance of the olden times by a second 
per furlong, and beat the best American time of modern days by one- 
third of a second per mile. The assertion, therefore, that our present 
horses are degenerated in their power of staying a distance under weight, 
is wholly without foundation ; since I have shown that, even takin"" the 
time of the Childers' performance as the true rate, of which there is 
some doubt, 3^et it has recently been beaten very considerably by West 
Australian and Kingston. Many loose assertions have been made as to 
the rate of the horse, for one mile in the last century, but there is not 
the slightest reliance to be placed upon them. That any race-horse ever 
ran a mile within the minute, is an absurd fiction : and it is out of the 
question to suppose that if Childers could not beat our modern horses 
over the Beacon Course, he could beat them a shorter distance. Stout- 
ness v/as undoubtedly the forte of the early race-horses ; they were of 
small size, very wiry and low, and could unquestionabh' staj^ a distance, 
and could race month after month, and year after year, in a way seldom 
imitated in these days : but that they could in their small compact forms 
run as fast in a short spin as our modern three-year-olds, is quite a fal" 
lacy ; and no racing man of any experience would admit it for a moment. 
The size and shape of the modern thoroughbred horse are superior to 
those of olden days, if we may judge by the portraits of them handed 
down to us by Stubbs, who was by far the most faithful animal painter 
of the eighteenth century. In elegance of shape we beat the horses of 
that day very considerably, more especially in the beauty of the head 
and the formation of the shoulders, which have been much attended to by 
breeders. In size, also, there has been an immense stride made, the 
average height of the race-horse having been increased by at least a hand 
in the last century. This enlargement is, I believe, chiefly due to the 
Godolphin Arabian, who was the sire of Babraham, the only horse of 
his time which reached l(j hands, and sire and grandsire of several which 
were more than 15 hands, much above the average height of horses at 
that time — as for instance, Fearnought, Genius, Gower, Stallion, Infant, 
Denmark, Bolton, Cade, Club, Lofty, and Amphion. Indeed it will be 
found, by an examination of the horses of that time, that out of 130 
winners in the middle of the eighteenth century, there were only 18 of 
the height of 15 hands and upwards, of which 11 were by Godolphin or 
his sons, three descended from the Darly Arabian, two from the Byerly 
Turk, and two from other sources. It may therefore be assumed, with 
some degree of probability, that the increase in size is in great measure 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 213 

due to the Godolphin, in addition to the extra oare and attention which 
the horse has received during the same time. Nevertheless, all the care 
and forcing in the world will not increase the size of some breeds ; and 
unless there was this capability of being forced, no amount of attention 
would have brought the horse to the present average, which may be 
placed at about 15 hands 3 inches. 

In relation to the comparisons of speed between English and American 
race horses, the Spirit of the Tiines, New Yord, sums up the matter, 
and gives a list of the most renowned racers of England and America, 
which we append : 

It will appear, on a critical examination of the subject, that there is 
not much difference in the powers of the best race-horses for more than 
a century ; a period during which they have been brought, upon both 
sides of the Atlantic, to the present high state of perfection. Within the 
last two years have been exhibited faster running in England, by West 
Australian and Kingston, and in this country, by Lexington and Lecomte, 
than was ever before known. The two last have run four miles, and 
four-mile heats, faster, in either case, than has been performed in Eng- 
land. " Stonehenge," who has been well endorsed in England, has shown 
* 'the absurd tiction" of "a mile within a minute;" and that there is 
" not the slightest reliance to be placed upon the many loose assertions" 
^ — such as the reported accounts of Childers ; and that he and Eclipse 
were a distance better than any other horses that have appeared, or that 
they " could beat an}^ other a half-mile in four miles!" On the same 
authority, it appears that, in the fastest Derby, St. Leger, and Ascut cup 
races, as won by Surplice, the Flying Dutchman, Sir Tatton Sykes, Don 
John, and West Australian, the distance varying from one mile and a 
half to two miles and a half, that the fastest rate, Avith English weights, 
has been a little over one minute and forty seconds per mile. We have 
no authentic report that the mile has been run in England under one 
minute and forty-two seconds, the time of Henry Perritt at New Orleans. 
Nominally of the same age, three years old, and with the same weight, 
86 lbs., Inheritor, at Liverpool, ran two miles in 3.25 ; which is at the 
rate per mile of 1-42 1-2. "Stonehenge," referring to what he con- 
siders the best race ever run in England, states that West Australian, 
four years old, carrying the St. Leger weight, 8 st. 6 lbs. — 118 pounds— 
''defeated Kingston by a head only," the latter five years old, carrying 
9 St. — 126 pounds — running two and a half miles in 4.27, "or as nearly 
as possible, 13 1-2 seconds per furlong." "This performance, the best 
of modern days, considering the weight, the age, and the distance, will 
compare very favorably with the often quoted exploit of Childers, in 

1721, at Newmarket, when six years old, carrying 9 st. 2 lbs. — 128 lbs.— 
14 



214 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 

he did the distance, three and a half miles, in 6.40, or at the rate of 1^ 
seconds and one-third per furlong." "Thus allowing Childers his year 
for the extra mile in the course, and for the two pounds which he carried 
above Kingston's weight, he, Childers, was outdone by Kingston at 
Ascot, by one second per furlong, and likewise by West Australian, 
at the usual allowance for his age." "Kingston, of the same age as 
Arrow, and carrying 9 st. instead of 6 st. 2 lbs. — 100 pounds — ran two 
and a h:alf miles at a better rate than Arrow, in his race with Brow^n 
Dick, did his three miles, by one-third of a second per furlong," But 
Arrow's was a race of three-mile heats, the second heat in 5.43 1-2. 
Lexington, nominally four years old, carrying 103 pounds, ran four miles, 
also at New Orleans, in 7.19 3-4. or, as nearly as may be, 13 3-4 seconds 
per furlong, at the rate, for four miles, of less than 1.50 per mile. 

The often quoted exploit of Eclipse, of England, was that he ran four 
miles, carrying 168 pounds, in eight minutes. 

With these data before them, it is left for others to draw their owu' 
deductions of the relative merits of West Australian, Childers, Eclipse, 
and Lexington, at the distances they ran, varying from two and a half 
miles to four. 

Some among us believe that Lexington and Lecomte were :^bout as fast 
and as good race-horses as have ever appeared in England. Undoubtedly 
they could " stay a distance" about as vfell as any horse that has run 
anywhere, having run two heats, of four miles, in 7.26, and 7.38, and 
the third mile of the second heat in 1.47. 

' It would be difficult to institute a fair comparison between the race- 
horses of Enghmd and America, the systems of racing being so different 
in the two countries. With the exception of the light weights, adopted 
by us for convenience, the modes and rules of our turf are nearly the 
same as they were in England the last century. In England, since that 
period, the mode of racing has been essentially changed ; heavy weights, 
even for two and three-j^ear-olds, at short distances, rarely beyond two 
and a half miles ; no longer races of heats ; the great events being for 
"baby horses," two and three-year-olds, instead of horses, as formerly. 
The}^ rarely, nowadays, reach maturity in England. Priam, Touchstone, 
Harkaway, and Rataplan, are to be regarded as exceptions to a rule. 
Childers and Eclipse were not introduced upon the turf until five years 
old, an age at which the most distinguished horses rarely run in these days. 

The clastic turf and the straighter shape of the English race-courses, 
better adapt them to speed than our circular "race-tracks," that are 
wholly denuded of turf. Therefore a fair comparison of English and 
American race-horses cannot be made by time as the test; one, too, that is not 
iveld in as high esteem in England, but is frequently disregarded. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 21-5 

Kather a long catalogue is here presented of the best race-horses of 
England and of this country, which might be extended. Those now or 
lately upon our turf are omitted, as some doubts might be entertained of 
their comparative merits. Of those furnished, who will agree as to the 
pre-eminence of any two of them ; at least, to place any six above|f 
^he rest? 

MOST RENOWNED ENGLISH AND AMERICAN HORSES. 

1715*, Childers ; 1718*, Partner; 1748*, Matchem ; 1749*, Regulus 
^nd Mirza, by the Godolphin Arabian ; 1749*, Spectator ; 1750*, Snap ; 
1758*, Herod; 17G4*, Eclipse, by Marske ; 1771*, Shark, by Marske ; 

.■'773*, Pot8os, by Eclipse; *, Saltrani, by Eclipse ; 1777* f, Dio- 

lued; 1782t, Trumpator ; 1784t, Sir Peter: 17901, Waxy; 1792t, 
Hambletonian ; 1796t, Sorcerer; 1798t, Eleanor ; 17981, Orville ; 1807t, 
Whalebone; 1816, Sultan ; 1822, Camel; 1827t, Priam, by Emilius f ; 

183 If, Plenipotentiary, by Emiliusf ; 1831t, Touchstone ; f, Queen 

of Trumps; f. Bay Middleton ; 1, Flying Dutchman; , 

Harkaway ; 1» Don John; f. Sir Tatton Sj'kes ; f, West 

Australian; , Kingston ; 1801*, Florizcl ; 1812, Potomac; 1813*, 

Sh- Archy ; 1812, Lady Lightfoot, by Sir Arclw ; 1812, Vanity, by Sir 
Arcby; 1813, Reality, by Sir Archy ; 1813*, Timoleon, by Sir Archy ; 
1814, Virginian, by Sir Archy ; 1815, Sir Charles, by Sir Archy ; 1820, 
Bertrand, b}^ Sir Archy; 1801, Maid of the Oaks, by Imported Spread 
Eagle; 1801, Floretta, by Imported Spread Eagle ; 1801, Postboy, by 
Imported Gabriel; 1801, Oscar, by Imported Gabriel ; 1801, Hickory: 
1808, Duroc ; , Sir Solomon ; 1814, American Eclipse ; 1820, Flirt- 
ilia ; , Monsieur Tonson ; , Sally Walker; , Ariel, by 

American Eclipse ; Modoc, by American Eclipse ; , Fanny, by 

American Eclipse ; , Lad}^ Clifden ; ', Doubloon, b}^ Imported 

Margrave ; , Blue and Brow^n Dick, by Imported Margrave ; 1833, 

Boston; 1837, Fashion; 1839, Peytona ; , Trifle, by Sir Charles; 

— — , Andrew, by Sir Charles ; , Wagner, by Sir Charles ; , 

Grey Eagle. 

Another view of the comparative merits of race-horses that were not 
contemporaries is presented by time on the same course, and with the 
same weight, or the relative w'eight for age. 

It has been shown lately, that on the Charleston Course, at three and 
four-mile-heats, in the races won by Nina, Highlander, Jefferson Davis, 
and Frank Allen, nearly the same time has been made ; besides the com>. 
parison betw^een that of Bertrand and Floride. 



*J}o8ton's ancestors. fl^crby and St. Leger winners. 



216 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR 

On the Union Course, New York, the fastest four-mile heats were as 
follows : 

Fashion, 5 years, 111 lbs., and Boston, 9 years, 126 lbs., 7.32 1-!^ 
—7.45, 

Tally-ho, 4 years, 104 lbs., and Bostona, 5 years. 111 lbs., 7.33 — 7.43. 

Fashion, aged, 123 lbs., and Peytona, 5 years, 117 lbs., 7.39—7.45. 

Eclipse, 9 years, 12^" lbs., and Henry, 4 years, 108 lbs., 7.37 1-2 
—7.49. 

Red-Eye, 8 years, 126 lbs., and One-Eyed Joe, 6 years, 117 lbs., 7.52 
—7.39. 

Lady Clifden, 4 years, 101 lbs., and Picton, 3 years, 90 lbs., Picton 
winning first heat, 7.44—7.43 1-2—7.56 1-2. 

Principles of Breeding. 
In relation to the principles and practice of breeding for the turl 
and for general purposes, Stonehenge on British Rural Sports, than 
whom none could be more competent to advise, and although written 
from an English stand-jioint is applicable to any country or conditions 
The author, in an essay holds the following : 

THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING FOR THE TURF AND FOl; 

GENERAL PURPOSES. 

Before proceeding to enlarge upon the practical management of th« 
breeding stud, it will be well to ascertain what are the known laws of 
generation in the higher animals. 

The union of the sexes is, in all the higher animals, necessary foi 
reproduction ; the male and female each taking their respective share. 

The office of the male is to secrete the semen in the testes, and emit it 
into the uterus of the female, where it comes in contact with the ovum 
of the female — which remains sterile without it. 

The female forms the ovum in the ovary, and at regular times, varying 
in different animals, this descends into the uterus for the purpose of 
fructification, on receiving the stimulus and addition of the sperm-cell of 
the semen. 

The semen consists of two portions — the spermatozoa, which have an 
automatic power of moving from place to place, by which quality it is 
believed that the semen is carried to the ovum ; and the sperm-cells, 
which are intended to co-operate with the germ-cell of the ovum in form- 
ing the embryo. 

The ovum consists of the germ-cell, intended to form part of the 
embryo, — and the yolk, which nourishes both, until the vessels of the 
mother take upon themselves the task ; or, in oviparous animals, till 
hatching takes place, and external food is to be obtained. The ovum is 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 217 

carried down by the contractile power of the fallopian tubes from the 
ovary to the uterus, and hence it does not require automatic particles 
hke the semen. 

The embryo, or young animal, is the result of the contact of the 
semen with the ovum, inunediately after which the s'Jjerm-cell of the 
former is absorbed into the germ-cell of the latter. Upon this a ten- 
dency to increase or "grow" is established, and supported at first, by 
the nutriment contained in the yolk of the ovum, until the embryo has 
attached itself to the walls of the uterus, from which it afterwards ab- 
»iorbs its nourishment by the intervention of the placenta. 

As the male and female each furnish their quota to the formation of 
the embryo, it is reasonable to expect that each shall be represented in 
At, which is found to be the case in nature ; but as the food of the embryo 
entirely depends upon the mother, it may be expected that the health of 
the offspring and its constitutional poAvers will be more in accordance 
with her state than with that of the father ; yet since the sire furnishes 
one-half of the original germ, it is not surprising that in externals and 
general character there is retained 'A facsimile, to a certain extent of him. 

The ovum of mammalia differs from that of birds chiefly in the greater 
size of the yolk of the latter, because in them this body is intended to 
support the growth of the embryo from the time of the full formation 
of the egg until the period of hatching. On the other hand, in mam- 
malia the placenta conveys nourishment from the internal surface of the 
uterus to the embryo during the whole time which elapses between the 
entrance of the ovum into the uterus and its birth. This period embraces 
nearly the whole of the interval between conception and birth, and is 
called utero-gestation. 

In all the mammalia there is a periodical " heat," marked by certain 
discharges in the female, and sometimes by other remarkal)le symptoms 
in the male. In the former it is accompanied in all healthy subjects by 
the descent of an ovum or ova into the uterus ; and in both there is a 
strong desire for sexual intercourse, which never takes place at other 
times in them. 

The semen retains its fructifying power for some days, if it be con- 
tained within the walls of the uterus or vagina, but soon ceases to be 
fruitful if kept in any other vessel. Hence, although the latter part of 
the time of heat is the best for the union of the sexes, because then 
the ovum is ready for the contact with the semen, yet if the semen 
reaches the uterus first, it will still cause a fruitful impregnation, because 
it remains there uninjured until the descent of the ovum. 

The influence of the male upon the embryo is partly dependent upon 
the fact that he furnishes a portion of its substance in the shape of the 



218 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

sperm-cell, but also in great measure upon the effect exerted upon the 
nervous system of the mother by him. Hence the preponderance of 
one or other of the parents will, in great measure, depend upon the* 
greater or less strength of nervous system in each. No general law is 
known by which* this can be measured, nor is anything known of the 
laws which regulate the temperament, bodily or mental power, color or 
conformation of the resulting offspring. 

Acquired qualities are transmitted, whether they belong to the sire or 
dam, and also both bodily and mental. As bad qualities are quite as 
easily transmitted as good ones, if not more so, it is necessary to take 
care that in selecting a male to improve the stock he be free from bad 
points, as well as furnished with good ones. It is known by experience 
that the good or bad points of the progenitors of the sire or dam are 
almost as likely to appear again in the offspring, as those of the imme- 
diate parents in whom they are dormant. Hence, in breeding the rule is, 
that like produces like, or the likeness of some ancestoi\ 

The purer or less mixed the breed, the more likely it is to be trans- 
mitted unaltered to the offspring. Hence, whichever parent is of the 
purest blood will be generally more represented in the offspring ; but as 
the male is usually more carefully selected, and of purer blood than the 
female, it generally follows that he exerts more influence than she does ; 
the reverse being the case when she is of more unmixed blood than 
the sire. 

Breeding "in-and-in" is injurious to mankind, and has always been 
forbidden by the Divine law, as well as by most human lawgivers. On 
the other hand, it prevails extensively in a state of nature with all grega- 
rious animals, among whom the strongest male letains his daughters and 
granddaughters until deprived of his harem Jby younger and stronger 
rivals. Hence, in those of our domestic animals which are naturally gre- 
garious, it is reasonable to conclude that breeding "in-and-in" is not 
prejudicial, because it is in conformity with their natural instincts, if not 
carried farther by art, than nature teaches by her example. Now, in 
nature we find about two consecutive crosses of the same blood is the 
usual extent to which it is carried, as the life of the animal is the limit ; 
and it is a remarkable fact that in practice a conclusion has been arrived 
at, which exactly coincides with these natural laws. "Once in and once 
out," is the rule for breeding given by Mr. Smith in his work on the 
breeding for the turf ; but twicS in will be found to be more in accord- 
ance with the practice of our most successful breeders. 

The influence of the first impregnation seems to extend to the subse- 
quent ones ; this has been proved by several experiments, and is espe- 
cially marked in the equine genus. In the series of examples preserved 



RACING. OR TURF HORSES. 219 

ni the Museum of the College of Surgeons, the markings of the male 
quagga, when united with the ordinary mare, are continued clearly for 
^ three generations beyond the one in which the quagga Avas the actual sire ; 
and they are so clear as to leave the question settled without a doubt. 

When some of the elements, of which an individual sire is composed 
are in accordance with others making up those of the dam, they coalesce 
in such a kindred way as to make what is called "a hit." On the other 
hand, when they are too incongruous, an animal is the result wholly 
nutitted for the task he is intended to perform. 

IN-AND-IN BREEDING. 

By a careful examination of the pedigrees of our most remarkable 
horses, it will be seen that in all cases there is some in-breeding ; and in 
the greater part of the most successful a very considerable infusion of it. 
It is ditficult to say what is not to be considered such, or when to make it 
commence, for in all cases there is more or less relationship between the 
sire and dam of every thoroughbred horse ; at least, I cannot find a single 
exception — and again, for instance, examining the pedigree of Harkawav, 
which is the result of one of the most direct crosses in the Stud-book, M'e 
find that his sire and dam are both descended from Eclipse and Herod 
through three or four strains on each side, as will be seen by referring 
to page 215. The same will apply to Alarm, who also is the result of as 
direct a cross as is often seen ; and, in fact, whatever jiedigree is ana- 
lyzed, the result will be that the bulk of it in the fifth or sixth remove is 
made up of Eclipse, Herod, and Matchem, or Regulus blood. It is not 
that a horse goes back to one of these stallions in one line onlv, but 
through six or seven, and sometimes through nearly all his progenitors. 
Hence, it may be fairly assumed that all the horses of the present day 
are related, either closely or distantly ; but when we speak of in-and-in 
breeding, we mean a nearer relationship than this, such as a first cousin, 
or, at the most, one in the second or third degree. But I believe it will 
be found that even this amount of relationship is desirable, if not carried 
too far, and that a vast number of our best modern horses have been 
bred in this way. 

OUT-CROSSTNG. 

By crossing the blood, we understand the selection of a sire composed 
of w^holly different blood from that of the dam, or as different as can 
be obtained of such quality as is suitable to the particular purpose in 
view. Thus, in breeding race-horses it is found that contiiming in the 
same strain beyond two stages deteriorates the constitutional health, 
diminishes the bone, and lowers the height : hence, it is important to 
avoid this evil, and another strain must be selected which shall lead to 



220 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the same results as were previously in existence, without the above dete 
rioration ; and this is called out-crossing, or more commonly, crossing: 
The great difficulty is to obtain this object without destroying that harmon}- 
of proportions, and due subordination of one part to another which is 
necessary for the race, horse, and without which he seldom attains high 
speed. Almost every individual breed has peculiar cliaracteristics, andj 
so long as the sire and dam are both in possession of them they will 
continue to reappear in the produce ; but if a dam possessing them is put 
to a horse of different character, the result is often that the produce is 
not a medium between the two, but is in its anterior parts like its dam, 
and in its posterior resembling its sire, or vice versa, than which no more 
unfortunate result can occur. Thus, we will suppose that a very strong 
muscular horse is put to a very light racing mare ; instead of the produce 
being moderately stout all over, he will often be very stout and strong 
behind, and very light and weak before, and as a consequence his hind- 
quarters will tire his fore limbs, by giving them more to do than they 
have the power of accomplishing. This is well seen in Crucifix, who was 
a very wiry and fast, but light mare, with a fore-quarter hardly capable 
of doing the work of her own hind-quarter. Now, she has several times 
been put to Touchstone — a horse remarkable for getting bad-shouldered 
stock, but with strong muscular propellers — and, with the solitary 
exception of Surplice; these have been a series of failures. Surplice 
was also defective in the same way, but still he managed to get along in 
an awkward style, but somehow or other at a great pace. Cowl, on the 
other hand, was a better galloper, because there was a greater harmony 
of parts ; but he was somewhat deficient in the stout qualities which 
Touchstone was intended to supply ; yet he will prove, I fancy, a better 
stallion than Surplice, because he is more truly made, and by consequence 
more likely to perpetuate his own likeness. 

COMPARISON or IN-BRED AND CROSSED STALLIONS. 

The following list of thirty of the most immediately successful stallions 
of late years shows the proportion of in-bred to crossed horses of this 
class to be equal. I have omitted such as only became celebrated through 
their daughters as brood-mares, for instance, Defence, etc. 

IN-BRED STALLIONS. 

1. Priam. 2. Bay Middleton. 3. Melbourne. 4. Cotherstone. 5. 
Pyrrhus I. 6. The Baron. T.Orlando. 8. Ithuriel. 9. Cowl. 10. 
The Saddler. 11. Sweetmeat. 12. Chatham. 13. Flying Dutchman. 
14. Sir Tatton Sykes. 15. Chanticleer. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 221 

CROSSED STALLIONS. 

1. Partisan. 2. Eniilius. 3. Touchstone. 4. Birdcatcher. 5. Sir 

Hercules. 6. Voltaire. 7. Plenipotentiary. 8. Pantaloon. 9. Lan- 

ercost. 10. Venison. 11. Alarm. 12. Ion. 13. Harkaway, 14. 
Velocipede. 15. Hetman Platoff. 

SELECTION OF BROOD MARE. 

In choosing the brood mare, four things must be considered — first, 
her blood ; secondly, her frame ; thirdly, her state of health ; and 
fourthly, her temper. 

Her blood or breeding will mainly depend upon the views of the 
breeder — that is to say, what particular class of colts he wishes to obtain, 
and according to his decision he will look out for mares of the particular 
kind he desires to reproduce, on the principle that "like begets like," 
but subject to the various considerations partly alluded to in the last 
chapter, and partly in this and subsequent ones. 

In frame, the mare should be so formed as to be capable of carrying 
and well nourishing her offspring; that is, she should be what is called 
"roomy." There is a formation of the hips which is particularly unfit 
for breeding purposes, and yet which is sometimes carefully selected, be- 
cause it is considered elegant ; this is the level and straight hip, in Avhich 
the tail is set on very high, and the end of the haunch-bone is ncarlv on 
a level with the projection of the hip-bone. The opposite form is repre- 
sented in the skeleton given with the article "Horse," which is that of a 
thoroughbred mare, well formed for this breeding purpose, but in other' 
respects rather too slight. By examining her pelvis, it will be seen that 
the haunch-bone forms a considerable angle with the sacrum, and that, 
as a consequence, there is plenty of room, not only for carrying the foal, 
but for allowing it to pass into the world. Both of these points are 
important, the former evidentlj^ so, and the latter no less so on consider- 
ation, because if the foal is injured in the birth, either of necessity, or 
from ignorance or carelessness, it will often fail to recover its powers, 
and will remain permanently injured. The pelvis, then, should be wide 
and deep — that is to say, it should be large and roomy ; and there should 
also be a little more than the average length from the hip to "the shoul- 
der, so as to give plenty of bed for the foal ; as well as a good depth of 
back-ribs, which are necessary in order to support this increased length. 
This gives the whole framework of the trunk of a larger proportion than 
is always desirable in the race-horse, which may be easily overtopped ; 
and hence many good runners have failed as brood mares, whilst a great 
number of bad runners have been dams of good race-horses. Beyond 
this roomy frame, necessary as the egg shell of the foal, the mare only 



222 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

requires such a shape and make as is well adapted for the particuhir pur. 
pose she is intended for ; or if not possessing it herself, she should 
belong to a family having it. If one can be obtained with these requisites 
in her own person, so much the more likely will she be to produce race- 
horses ; but if not all, then it is better that she should add as many as 
possible to the needful framework, without which her office can hardly 
be well carried out. But with this suitable frame, if she belongs to a 
family w^iich, as a rule, possesses all the attributes of a race-horse, she 
may be relied on Avith some degree of certainty, even though she herself 
should fail in some of them. Thus, there are many fine roomy mares 
which have been useless as race-horses from being deficient in the power 
of some one quarter, either behind or before, or perhaps a little too 
slack in the h)in for their length. Such animals, if of good runnhig fam- 
ilies, should not be despised ; and many such have stood their owners in 
good stead. On the other hand, some good-looking animals have never 
thrown good stock, because they were only exceptional cases, and their 
families were of bad running blood on all or most sides. No mare could 
•look much more unlike producing strong stock than Pocahontas, but be- 
ing of a family which numbers Selim, Bacchante, Tramp, Web, Orville, 
Eleanor, and Marmion among its eight members in the third remove, it 
can scarcely occasion suprprise that she should respond to the call of the 
Baron by producing a Stockwell and a Rataplan. 

In health, the brood mare should be as near jDcrfection as the artificial 
state of this animal will allow ; at all events, it is the most important 
point of all, and in every case the mare should be very carefully exam- 
ined, with a view to discover what deviations from a natural state have 
been entailed upon her by her own labors, and what she has inherited 
from her ancestors. Independently of the c(msequence of accidents, all 
deviations from a state of health in the mare may be considered as more 
or less transmitted to her, because in a thoroughly sound constitution, no 
ordinary treatment such as training consists of will produce disease, and 
it is only hereditary predispositions which, under this process, entails its 
appearance. Still there are positive, comparative, and superlative de- 
grees of objectionable diseases incidental to the brood mare, which should 
be accepted or refused accordingly. All accidental defect, such as bro- 
ken knees, dislocated hii>s, or even "breaks down," may be passed over; 
the latter, however, only when the stock from which the mare is de- 
scended are famous for standing their work without this frailty of sinew 
and ligament. Spavins, ring-bones, large splints, side-bones, and, in 
fact, all bony enlargements, are constitutional defects, and will be almost 
sure to be perpetuated, more or less, according to the degree in which 



RACING, OR TURF ITORSEP. 22.^ 

they exist in the particular case. Curby hocks are also hereditary, and 
should be avoided ; though many a one much bent at the junction of the 
OS calcis with the astragalus is not at all liable to curbs. It is the defect- 
ive condition of the ligaments there, not the angular junction, which 
leads to curbs ; and the breeder should carefully investigate the individ- 
ual case before accepting or rejecting a mare with suspicious hocks. Bad 
feet, whether from contraction or from too flat and thin a sole, should 
also be avoided ; but when they have obviously arisen from bad shoeing, 
the defect may be passed over. 

Such are the chief varieties of unsoundness in the legs which require 
circumspection ; the good points w^hich, on the other hand, are to be look- 
ed for, are those considered desirable in all horses that are subjected to 
the shocks of the gallop. Calf knees are generally bad in the race horse, 
and are very apt to be transmitted, whilst the opposite form is also per- 
petuated, l)ut is not nearly so disadvantageous. Such are the general 
considerations bearing upon soundness of limb. 

That of the wind is no less important. Broken-winded mares seldom 
breed, and they are therefore out of the question, if for no other reason ; 
but no one would risk the recurrence of this disease, even if he could 
get such a mare stinted. Roaring is a much-vexed question, which is by 
no means theoretically settled among our chief veterinary authorities, nor 
practically by our breeders. Every year, however, it becomes more 
frequent and important, and the risk of reproduction is too great for any 
person wilfully to run by breeding from a roarer. As far as I can learn, 
it appears to be much more hereditary on the side of the mare than on 
that of the horse ; and not even the offer of a Virago should tempt me 
to use her as a brood mare. There are so many different conditions which 
produce what is called "roaring," that it is difficult to form any opinion 
which shall apply to all cases. In some instances, where it has arisen 
from neglected strangles, or from a simple inflammation of the larynx, 
the result of cold, it will probably never reappear ; but when the genuine 
ideopathic roaring has made its appearance, apparently depending upon a 
disease of the nerves of the larynx, it is ten to one that the produce will 
suffer in the same way. 

Blindness, again, may or may not be hereditary ; but in all cases it 
should be viewed with suspicion as great as that due to roaring. Simple 
cataract without inflammation undoubtedly runs in families ; and when a 
horse or mare has both eyes suffering from this disease, witliout any other 
derangement of the eye, I should eschew them carefully. When blind- 
ness is the result of violent inflammation brought on by bad management 
or by influenza, or any other similar cause, the eye itself is more or less 



22-4 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

disoro-anized ; and though this itself is objectionable, as showing a weak- 
ness of the organ, it is not so bad as the regular cataract. 

Such are the chief absolute defects, or deviations from health in the 
mare ; to which may be added a general delicacy of constitution, wiiich 
can only be guessed from the amount of flesh which she carries while 
sucklino- or on poor "keep," or from her appearance on examination by 
an experienced hand, using his eyes as well. The firm, full muscle, the 
brio-ht and lively eye, the healthy-looking coat at all seasons, rough 
thouo-h it may be in wduter, proclaim the hardiness of constitution which 
is wanted, but which often coexists with infirm legs and feet. Indeed, 
sometimes the very best-topped animals have the vv^orst legs and feet, 
chiefly owing to the extra weight they and their ancestors also have had 
to carry. Crib-biting is sometimes a habit acquired from idleness, as 
also is wind-sucking ; but if not caused by indigestion, it often leads to 
it, and is very commonly caught by the offspring. It is true that it may 
be prevented by a strap ; but it is nor a desirable accomplishment in the 
mare, though of less importance than those to w^hich I have already allu- 
ded, if not accompanied by absolute loss of health, as indicated by ema- 
ciation, or the state of the skin. 

Lastly, the temper is of the utmost importance, by which must be un- 
derstood not that gentleness at grass which may lead the breeder's fam- 
ily to pet the mare, but such a temper as will serve for the purposes of 
her rider, and will answer to the stimulus of the voice, whip or spur. A 
craven or a rogue is not to be thought of as the "mother of a family ;" 
and if a mare belongs to a breed which is remarkable for refusing to an- 
swer the call of the rider, she should be consigned to any task rather 
than the stud-farm. Neither should a mare be used for this purpose 
which had been too irritable to train, unless she happened to be an excep- 
tional case ; but if of an irritable family, she would be worse even than 
a roarer, or a blind one. These are defects which are apparent in the 
colt or-filly, but the irritability which interferes with training often leads 
to the expenditure of large sums on the faith of private trials, which are 
lost from the failure in public, owing to this defect of nervous system. 

CHOICE OF STALLION. 

Like the brood mare, the stallion requires several essentials — com- 
mencing also like her, first, with his blood ; secondly, his individual 
shape ; thirdly, his health ; and, fourthl}^ his temper. But there is this 
difficulty in selecting the stallion, that he must not only be suitable joer.se, 
but he must also be adapted to the particular mare which he is to " serve." 
Thus, it will be manifest that the task is more difficult than the fixing 
upon a brood mare, because (leaving out of considerations all other 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 225 

points but blood) in the one case, a mare only has to be chosen which is 
of good blood for racing purposes, while in the other there must be the 
same attention paid to this particular, and also to the stallion's suitability 
to the mare, or to *' hit "with her blood. Hence, all the various theories 
connected wdth generation must be investigated, in order to do justice to 
the subject ; and the breeder must make up his mind whether in-and-in- 
breeding, as a rule, is desirable or otherwise ; and if so, whether it is 
adapted to the particuUir case he is considering. Most men make up 
their minds one way or the other on this subject, and act accordingly, in 
which decision much depends upon the prevailing fashion. The rock 
upon which most men sj^lit is a bigoted favoritism for some particular 
horse ; thus, one man puts all his mares to Orlando ; another, to Surplice 
or the Flying Dutchman ; although they may every one be different in 
blood and form to the others. Now, this cannot possibly be right if 
there is any principle whatever in breeding ; and however good a horse 
may be, he cannot be suited to all mares. Some, again, will say that 
any horse will do, and that all is a lottery ; but I think I shall be able to 
show that there is some science required to enable the breeder to draw 
many prizes. That the system generally followed of late is a bad one, I 
am satisfied, and with constant crossing and re-crossing it is almost a 
lottery ; but upon proper principles, and wdth careful management, I am 
tempted to believe that there would be fewer blanks than at present. I 
have already given my own theoretical views upon the case, illustrated 
by numerous examples on both sides of the question. It will now^ 
be my object to apply these views practically by selecting particular 
instances. 

In choosing the particular blood which will suit any given mare, my 
impression alwaj^s would be, that it is desirable to fix upon the best strain 
in her pedigree, if not already twice bred in-and-in, and then to put to 
her the best stallion available of that blood. In some cases, of course, 
it will happen that the second best strain will answer better, because 
there happens to be a better horse of that blood to be had than of the 
superior strain, which would otherwise be preferred. If, on the other 
hand, the mare has already been in-bred to the extent of two degrees, 
then a cross will be advisable ; but I am much inclined to believe, from 
the success of certain well-known cases, that even then a cross into 
blood already existing in the mare, but not recently in-bred nor used 
more than once, will sometimes answer. Upon these principles I should, 
therefore, look for success. It is surprising to me that this very common 
occurrence of in-breeding among our best modern horses has so generally 
escaped observation, and the only way in which I can explain it is by 
supposing, that having frequently been through the grandam on either 



226 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

side it has been lost sight of, because the knowledge of the sire's anvl 
grandsire's blood is generally the extent to which the inquiry goes. Thus, 
we find the most recent writer on the subject, who assumes the name of 
"Craven," asserting, at page 121 of "The Horse" — "There is no 
proximity of relationship in the genealogy of the Flying Dutchman, 
Touchstone, Melbourne, Epirus, Alarm, Bay Middleton, Hero, Orlando, 
Irish Birdcatcher, Cossack, Harkaway, Tearaway, Lothario, or others of 
celebrity." Now, of these the Flying Dutchman is the produce of 
second cousins ; Bay Middleton, his sire, being also in-bred to William- 
son's Ditto and Walton, own brothers; and Orlando, containing in his 
pedigree Selim twice over, and Castrel, his brother, in addition. Mel- 
bourne also is the produce of third cousins, both his sire and dam being 
descended from Highflyer. But if to these four, which he has specially 
named, be added the numerous "others of celebrity" to which I have 
drawn attention, besides a host of lesser stars too numerous to mention, 
it will be admitted that he assumes for granted the exact opposite of 
what is really the case. 

The choice of particular stallions, as dependent upon their formation, 
is not less difficult than that of the mare, and it must be guided by nearly 
the same principles, except that there is no occasion for any framework 
especially calculated for nourishing and containing the foetus, as in her 
case. As far as possible, the horse should be the counterpart of what is 
desired in the produce, though sometimes it may be necessary to select 
an animal of a breed slightly exaggerating the peculiarity which is sought 
for, especially when that is not connected with the preponderance of fore 
or hind-quarters. Thus, if the mare is very leggy, a more than usually 
short-legged horse may be selected, or if her neck is too short or too 
long, an animal with this organ particularly long, or the reverse as the 
case may be, should be sought out. But in all cases it is dangerous to 
attempt too sudden alteration with regard to size, as the effort will gen- 
erally end in a colt without a due proportion of parts, and therefore more 
or less awkward and unwieldly. 

In constitution and general health, the same remarks exactly apply to 
the horse as the mare. All hereditary diseases are to be avoided as far 
as possible, though few horses are to be met with entirely free from all 
kinds of unsoundness, some the effects of severe training, and others 
resulting from actual disease, occurring from other causes. With regard 
to fatness, there is an extraordinary desire for horses absolutely loaded 
with fat, just as there formerly was for overfed oxen at Christmas. It 
is quite true that the presence of a moderate quantity of fat is a sign of 
a good constitution, but, like all other good qualities, it may be carried 
to excess, so as to produce disease ; and just as there often is hypertro- 



"RvcrNo. on turf ho"R5;es. * 227 

phy, or excess of nourishment of the heart, or any bony parts, so is 
there often a like superabundance of fat causing obstruction to the due 
performance of the animal functions, and often ending in premature 
death. This is in great measure owing to want of exercise, but also to 
over-stimulating food ; and the breeder who wishes his horse to last, and 
also to get good stock, should take especial care that he has enough of 
the one and not too much of the other. 

In temper, also, there is no more to be added to what I have said 
relating to the mare, except that there are more bad-tempered stallions to 
be met with than mares, independently of their running, and this is 
caused by the constant state of unnatural excitement in which they are 
kept. This kind of vice is, however, not of so much importance, as it 
does not affect the running of the stock, and solely interferes with their 
stable management. 

BEST AGE TO BREED FROM. 

It is commonly supposed that one or other of the j^arents should be of 
mature age, and that if both are very young, or very old, the produce 
wi)l be decrepit or w^eakly. A great many of our best horses have been 
out of old mares, or by old horses — as, for instance, Priam out of 
Cressida, at twenty ; Crucifix, out of Octaviana, at twenty-two ; and 
Lottery and Brutandorf , out of Mandane, at twenty and twenty-one ; 
Voltaire got Voltigeur at twenty-one ; Bay Middieton w^as the sire of 
Andover at eighteen, and Touchstone got Newrainster at seventeen. On 
the other hand, many young stallions and mares have succeeded well, and 
in numberless instances the first foal of a mare has been the best she ever 
produced. In the olden times, Mark Antony and Conductor w^ere the 
first foals of their dams ; and more recently, Shuttle Pope, Filho da 
Puta, Sultan, Pericles, Oiseau, Doctor Syntax, Manfred and Pantaloon, 
have all been first-born. Still these are exceptions, and the great bulk 
of superior horses are produced later in the series. The youngest dam 
which I ever heard of was Monstrosity, foaled in 1838, who produced 
Ugl}'^ Buck at three years old, having been put to Venison when only 
two years of age. Her dam, also, was only one year older when she was 
foaled ; and Venison himself Avas quite a young stallion, being only seven 
years old when he got Ugly Buck ; so that, altogether, the last mentioned 
horse was a remarkable instance of successful breeding; from young 
parents. As in most cases of the kind, howeyer, his early promises were 
not carried out, and he showed far better as a two-year-old, and early in 
the following year, than in his maturity. Such is often the case, and, I 
believe, is a very general rule in breeding all animals, whether horses, 
dogs, or cattle. The general practice in breeding is to use young stal- 



228 ' ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 

lions with old mares, and to put young mares to old stallions ; and such 
appears to be the best plan, judging from theory as well as practice. 

BEST TIME FOR BREEDING. 

For all racing purposes, an early foal is important, because the age 
takes date from the 1st of January. The mare, therefore, should be 
put to the horse in February, so as to foal as soon after January 1st as 
possible. As, however, many mares foal a little before the end of the 
eleventh month, it is not safe to send her to the horse before the middle 
of the second month in the year. For further particulars, see "Thoughts 
on Breeding," and the " Stud-Farm," in which the general management 
of the mare and foal is fully detailed. 

It will be interesting that the reader have a pretty complete record of 
the best time at various distances in racing. Such a record has been care- 
fully compiled for Turf, Field and Farm up to the close of the sea- 
son of 1879 ; and which we append : 

Fastest and Best Time, and Most Creditable Performances on Record, at 
all Distances, to end of Year 1879. 

HALF A MILE. 

Olitipa, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, July 25, 1874, 0:47 3-4. 
Pomeroy, by Planet, Louisville, Ky., May 23, 1877, 0:49 1-4. 
Harold, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, July 23, 1878, :49 1-4. 
Idalia, by imp. Glenelg, Jerome Park, June 8, 1876, :49 1-2. 
Leona, by War Dance, Lexington, Ky., May 12, 1874, :49 1-2. 
Blue Lodge, by Fellowcraft, Lexington, Ky., May 10, 1879, :49 1-2. 
Duke of Magenta, by Lexington, Saratoga, July 24, 1877, 0:49 1-2. 
Idalia, by imp. Glenelg, Long Branch, July 4, 1876, :49 3-4. 
Sensation, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, July 22, 1879, 0:49:3-4. 
Kimball, by imp. Buckden, Louisville, Ky., May 21, 1879, 0:49 3-4. 
Observanda, by Tom Bowling, Louisville, Ky., May 21, 1879, :49 3-4. 
Grenada, by King Alfonso, Long Branch, July 5, 1879, :49 3-4. 

FIVE-EIGHTHS OF A MILE. 

Bonnie Wood, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Saratoga, July 20, 1878, 
I :02 3-4. 

Grenada, by King Alfonso, Saratoga, Aug. 10, 1879, 1 :03 1-2. 
Harold, by imp. Leamington, Long Branch, July 4, 1878, 1 :03 1-2. 
Rachel, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Long Branch, July 6, 1878, 1 :03 1-2. 
Palmetto, by Narragansett, Saratoga, Aug. 10, 1876, 1 :03 1-2. 
Khadamanthus, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, July 2.5, 1876, 1 :03 1-2. 
Egypt (aged), by Planet, Saratoga, July 19, 1879, 1 :04. 



EACING, OR TURF HORSES, 220 

Aristides, by imp. Leamington, Jerome Park, Oct. 7, 1874, 1 :04 1-2. 
Volturno, by imp. Billet, Saratoga, Aug. 21, 1878, 1 :04 3-4. 

THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILE. 

First Chance, by Baywood, Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 17, 1876, 1 :15. 

Lady Middleton, by imp. Hurrah, Saratoga, Aug. 1, 1879. 1:17, 
1 :15 1-4. First was dead heat with Checkmate. 

Bill Bruce, by Enquirer, Lexington, Ky., May 12, 1876, 1 :15 1-2. 

Connor, by Norfolk, Carson, Nev., Oct. 19, 1879, 1 :15 1-2. 

Rhadamanthus, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 19, 1877, 1 :15 1-2. 

Florence B., by Tom Bowling, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 20, 1879. 
1:15 3-4. 

Madge, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, Aug. 21, 1874, 1 :15 3-4. 

Alarm, by imp. Eclipse, Saratoga, July 15, 1872, 1 :16.^ 

Belle of the Meade, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 
9,1876,1:16. 

Enquiress, by Enquirer, Detroit, July 5, 1879. 1 :16. 

Egypt (aged), by Planet, Louisville, Ky., May 26, 1877. 1:1 7. 

Milan, by Melbourne, Jr., Louisville, Ky., May 26, 1877, 1:16. 

Girofle, by imp. Leamington, Prospect Park, Sept. 13, 1879, 1 :16 1-4. 

Spendthrift, by Australian, Nashville, Oct. 8, 1878,1.16 1-2. 

Checkmate, by imp. Glen Athol, Saratoga, Aug. 15, 1879, 1 :16 1-4. 

Kimball, by imp. Buckden, St. Louis, June 13, 1879, 1:16 1-2. 

Mistake, by Waverly, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 23, 1879, 1 :16 1-2. 

Madge, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1876, 1 :16 1-2. 

Glendalia", by imp. Glenelg, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 24, 1879, 1 :16 1-2. 

Pigne, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 27, 1877, 1 :16 3-4. 

Tom Bowling, by Lexington, Long Branch, 1872, 1:16 3-4. 

Bowling Green, by Tom Bowling, Louisville, Sept. 24, 1879, 1 :16 3-4 

Duke of Magenta, by Denington, Saratoga, Aug. 16, 1877, 1 :16 3-4 

Spartan, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 16, 1877, 1 :16 3-4. 

Sly Dance, by War Dance, Louisville^ Sept. 22, 1879, 1 :16 3-4. 

Bye and Bye, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Louisville, Sept. 22, 1879, 
1:16 3-4. 

McWhirter, by Enquirer, Louisville, Ky., May 15, 1879, 1 :17. 

Wallenstein, by Waverly, Lexington, Ky., May 15, 1879, 1 :17. 

Countess, by Kentucky, Saratoga, 1873, 1 :17 1-2. 

Beatrice, by Kentucky, Long Branch, 1:17 1-2. 

Luke Blackburn, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Prospect Park, Sept. 6, 
1879, 1:17 1-2. 

Oden, by Vauxhall, Saratoga, Aug. 7, 1879, 1 :17 3-4. 

Idalia, by imp. Glenelg, Saratoga, Aug. 5, 1878, 1 :18. 
15 - 



230 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Spartan, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 22, 1877, 1:19. 

ONE MILE. 

Ten Broeck, by imp. Phaeton, Louisville, Ky., May 24, 1877, 1 :39 3-4. 

Leauder (Searcher), by Enquirer, Lexington, Ky., May 13, 1875, 
1 :41 3-4. 

Redman, by War Dance, Lexington, Ky., May 13, 1876, 1 :42 1-4. 

Danger, by Alarm, Baltimore, May 23, 1878, 1 :42 1-2. 

Mahlstick, by Lever, Lexington, Ky., Sept. 20, 1877, 1 :42 1-2. Chas. 
Gorham, by Blarneystone, Lexington, Ky., Sep. 20, 1877, 1:42 1-2. 
Dead heat. 

Grey Planet, by Planet, Saratoga, Aug. 13, 1874, 1 :42 1-2. 

Dan K., by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Louisville, Ky., May 29, 1877, 
1 :42 -1-2. 

Goodnight, by Enquirer, Louisville, Ky., Sep. 23, 1879, 1 :42 1-2 

Katie Pease, by Planet, Buffalo, N. Y., Sep. 8, 1874, 1 :42 3-4. 

Alarm, by imp. Eclipse, Saratoga, July 17, 1872, 1 :42 3-4. 

Glenmore, by imp. Glen Athol, Detroit, July 4, 1879, 1 :42 3-4. 

Virginus, by Virgil, Saratoga, Aug. 4, 1877, 1 :42 3-4. 

Cammie T., by imp. Glenelg, Louisville, Sept. 20, 1879, 1:43. 

Mistake, by Waverly, Louisville, Sept. 26, 1879, 1 :43 1-2. 

Edinburg, by Longfellow, Lexington, May 11, 1878, 1 :43 1-2. 

Belle of the Meade, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Louisville, Sept. 25, 
1876, 1:44 1-2. 

Belle of the Meade, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Louisville, Sept. 27, 
1876, 1:44 1-4. 

Spendthrift, by imp. Australian, Nashville, Oct. 12, 1878, 1 :44 1-4. 

Clara D., by imp. Glenelg, Sacramento, Sept. 27, 1877, 1:44 1-2. 

Astral, by Asteroid, Lexington, Ky., Sept. 12, 1873, 1 :44 3-4. 

Parole, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 10, 1875, 1 :44 3-4. 

Aristides, by imp. Leamington, Baltimore, Oct. 22, 1874, 1 :44 3-4. 

Susquehanna, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 8, 1876, 1 :45. 

Charley Howard, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 17, 1876, 1:45. 

Firework, by Lexington, Baltimore, Oct., 1874, 1:45. 

Hamburg, by Lexington, Cincinnati, 1869, 1:45. 

Battle Axe, by Monday, Saratoga, 1873, 1:45 1-2. 

Spendthrift, (aged) by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Jerome Park, June 6, 
1876, 1:46 1-2. 

Tom Bowling, by Lexington, Long Branch, Aug. 8, 1872, 1 :47. 

MILE HEATS. 

Kadi, by Lexington, Hartford, Conn, Sept. 2, 1875, fastest second 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 231 

heat, rind fastest two heats ever run, 1 -4:2 1-2, 1 :41 1-4. 

L' Argentine, by War Dance, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 27, 1879. Beati- 
tude won lirst heat, 1 :42 1-4, 1 :42 1-2, 1 :45 1-2. 

Mark D., by Monday, Sacramento, Sept. 19, 1878, 1:43, 1 :42 3-4. 

Himyar, by Alarm, St. Louis, June 4, 1878, 1 :42 1-2, 1 :43 1-2. 

Camargo, by Jack Malone, Louisville, Ky., May 20, 1875, 1:42 3-4, 
1 :43 1-4. 

Una, by War Dance, Prospect Park, June 25, 1879, 1 :42 1-4, 1 :45. 

Tom Bowling, by Lexington, ran mile heats at Lexington. Ky., May, 
1873, in 1 :43 1-2, 1 :43 1-2. 

Thornhill, by Woodburn, ran first two heats in 1 :43, 1 :43 ; Thad Ste- 
vens (aged), by Langford, won the third, fourth and fifth in 1 :43 1-2, 
1:46 1-2, 1:45. 

Clara D., by imp. Glenelg, San Francisco, Sept. 13, 1878, 1 :43, 
1 :43 1-2. 

Brademante, b}^ War Dance, Saratoga, Aug. 9, 1877, 1 :43 1-2, 1 :43 1-2. 

Bramble, by imp, Bonnie Scotland, Nashville, Oct. 7, 1878, 1 :43, 1 :44. 

Lena Dunbar, by Leinster, Sacramento, Sept. 17, 1878: 1 :44 1-4, 
1 :42 3-4. 

Springbok, by imp. Australian, Utica, N. Y., June 25, 1874, 1 :45, 
I :42 3-4. 

ONE MILE AND ONE-EIGHTH. 

Bob Woolley, by imp. Leamington, Lexington, Ky., Sept. (3, 1875, 1 :54. 

Janet Murray, by Panic, Brighton Beach, July 13, 1879, 1 :54 3-4. 

Blue Eyes, by Enquirer, Louisville, Ky., May 28, 1879, 1 :55 1-4. 

Warfield, by War Dance, Louisville, Ky., Oct. 1, 1878, 1 ;56. 

Jack Hardy, by imp. Phaeton, St. Louis, June 4, 1878, 1 :56. 

Fadladeen, (aged) by War Dance, Saratoga, Aug. 19, 1874, 1 :56. 

Picolo, Concord, Saratoga, Aug. 15, 1874, 1:56. 

Himyar, by Alarm, Louisville, Sept. 20, 1879, 1 :56. 

Jils Johnson, by Longfellow, Lexington, Sept. 11, 1879, 1 :56 1-2. 

Fannie Ludlow, by imp. Eclipse, Saratoga, Aug. 10, 1879, 1 :56 1-2. 

Round Dance, by War Dance, Louisville, Sept. 27, 1879, 1:56 1-2. 

Konrad, by Rebel Morgan, New Orleans, April 26, 1878, 1 :56 1-2. 

Ben Hill, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Louisville, Sept. 25, 1879, dead 
heat, 1 :56 3-4. 

Mollie McGinley, by imp. Glen Athol, Brighton Beach, Sept. 10, 
1879,1:57. 

Una, by War Dance, Prospect Park, Sept. 11, 1879, 1 :57. 

Susquehanna, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, July 24, 1877, 1 :57 1-4. 

Experience Oaks, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 20, 1872, 1 :57 1-4. 



232 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Bramble, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Saratoga, Aug. 17, 1878, 1:58. 

Bramble," " " " " " 9,1879,1:58. 

Kennesaw, by imp. Glengany, Louisville, May 28, 1878, 1 :58 1-2. 

Essillah, by Lever, Nashville, Apr. 29, 1879, 1 :58 1-2. 

Gabriel, by Alarm, Brighton Beach, Sept. 27 1879, 1 :59. 

Edinburg, by Longfellow, Louisville, Sept. 25, 1878, 1 :59. 

Diamond, by imp. Leamington, Ogdensburg, N. Y., Sept. 10, 1878, 
1:59. 

Lancewood, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 13, 1879, 1 :59. 

Belle, by Dickens, Saratoga, July 23, 1878, 1 :59. 

Khadamanthus, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 15, 1876, 
1 :59 3-4. 

Spendthrift (aged), by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Jerome Park, June 10, 
1876,2:00 

Phyllis, by imp. Phaeton, Louisville, Sept. 27, 1876, 2:01. 

Spendthrift, (aged), by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Jerome Park, June 12, 
1875, 2 :03 1-4 

ONE MILE AND A QUARTER. 

Charley Gorham, by Blarney stone, I^exington, May 18, 1877, 2: 8 1-2. 
Falsetto, by Enquirer, Lexington, May 10, 1879, 2:08 3-4. 
Grimstead, by Gilroy, Saratoga, July 24, 1875, 2 :08 3-4. 
Frogtown, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Lexington, Ky., May 1872, 
2 :09 1-2. 

Monitor, by imp. Glenelg, Prospect Park, Sept. 9, 1879, 2 :10. 
Parole, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, July 20, 1878, 2 :10 1-2. 
Mate, by imp. Australian, Jerome Park, Oct. 3, 1874, 2:11 3-4. 
Preakness, by Lexington, Jerome Park, June 13, 1874, 2 :12. 

ONE MILE AND THREE-EIGHTHS. 

Spendthrift, by imp. Australian, Jerome Park, June 10, 1879, 2 :25 3-4. 
Gov. Hampton, by Planet, Prospect Park, June 21, 1879, 2 :26 1-2. 
Bramble, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Long Branch, July 10, 1879, 2 :27. 

ONE AND A HALF MILES. 

Tom Bowling,* by Lexington, May 12, 1874, 2:34 3-4. 
Parole, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 14, 1877, 2:36 3-4. 
Lord Murphy, by Pat Maloy, Louisville, May 20, 1879, 2 :37. 
Day Star, by Star Davis, Louisville, May 21, 1878, 2 :37 1-2. 
Aristides, by imp. Leamington, Louisville, Ky., May 7, 1875, 2:37 3-4. 
Glenelg, by Citadel, Long Branch, Aug. 2, 1870, 2 :37 3-4. 
Shylock, by Lexington, Jerome Park, Oct. 31, 1874, 2 :38. 
Baden Baden, by imp. Australian, Louisville, May 22, 1877, 2:38. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 233 

Vagrant, by Virgil, Louisville, May 14, 1877, 2:38 1-4. 

Peru, by imp. Glengarry, Lexington, Ky., Sept. 11, 1871), 2:38 3-4. 

Belle of Nelson, by Hunter's Lexington, Louisville, May 23, 1878, 2 :39. 

Imp. Saxon,by Beadsman, Belmont stakes, Jerome Park, June 13, 1874, 
2:39 1-2. 

Tom Ochiltree, by Lexington, Jerome Park, Oct. 14, 1877, 2:43. 

Zoo Zoo, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, Aug. 21, 1877, 2:43 1-4. 

Duke of Magenta, by Lexington, Jerome Park, June 8, 1878, 2 :43 1-2. 

*Toni Bowling was permitted to extend the run to two miles. He ran 
the first mile in 1 :41 3-4 ; mile and a half in 2 :34 3-4 ; one and three- 
quarters miles in 3:00 3-4 ; and two miles in 3:27 3-4. The last two 
unofficial. 

ONE MILE AND FIVE-EIGHTHS. 

Ten Broek, by imp, Phaeton, Lexington, Ky., Sept. 9, 1875, 2 :49 1.4. 

Monitor, by imp. Glenelg, Prospect Park, Sept. 13, 1879, 2:50 1-2. 

Springbok, by imp. Australian, Jerome Park, June 20, 1874, 2:53. 

Brademante, by War Dance, Lexington, May 17, 1877, 2 :53 3-4. 

Harry Bassett, by Lexington, Belmonte stakes, Jerome Park, June 10, 
1871,2:56. 

Mintzer, by imp. Glenelg, Saratoga, July 23, 1879, 2:58. 

Katie Pease, by Plant, Ladies' stake, Jerome Park, June 11, 1873, 
2 :58 1-4. 

ONE AND THREE-QUARTER MILES. 

One Dime, by Wanderer, Lexington. Sept. 12, 1879, 3:05 1-4. 
Irish King, by Longfellow, Sept. 25, 1879, -3 ;05 1-4. 
Courier, by Star Davis, Louisville, May 23, 1877, 3 :05 1-4. 
Reform, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 20, 1874, 3:05 3-4. 
Mate, by imp. Australian, Long Branch, July 15, 1875, 3 :06 1-4. 
D'Artagnan, by Lightning, Saratoga, July 24, 1875, 3 ;06 1-2. 
Gen. Phillips, by imp. Glenelg, Saratoga, Aug. 5, 1879, 3:06 1-2. 
Emma C, by Planet, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 23, 1875, 3 :06 3-4. 
Frogtown, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Lexington, Ky., May 26, 1872, 
3:07. 

Danicheff, by Glenelg. Saratoga, Aug. 9, 1879, 3-07. 

Gov. Hampton, by Planet, Prospect Park, Sept. 9, 1879, 3:07 1-2. 

Kenny, by Curies, Prospect Park, June 25, 1879, 3:07 1-2. 

Leveler. by Lever, Lexington, Sept. 9, 1878, 3:07 1-2. 

Neecy Hale, l)y Lexington, Lexington. Ky., Sept. 14, 1876, 3:07 3-4 

Catesb3^ by imp. Eclipse, Saratoga, Aug. 15, 1874. 3 :07 3-4. 

Parole, by imp. Leamington, Saratoga, Aug. 11. 1877, 3:08. 

Kennesaw, by imp. Glengarry, St. Louis, June 5, 1878, 3 :08. 



234 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Duke of Magenta, by Lexington, Saratoga, July 20, 1878, 3 :08. 

Joe Daniels, by imp. Australian, Travers' Stake, Saratoga, July 13, 
1872,3:08 1-4. 

Preakness, by Lexington, Baltimore, Oct. 21, 1864,3:08 1-2. 

Viceroy, by Gilroy, Saratoga, Aug. 9, 1877, 3 :08 1-2. 

Volturno, by imp. Billet, Brighton Beach, Sept. 16, 1879, 3 :08 1-2. 

Atilla, by imp. Australian, Travers's Stake, Saratoga, July 25, 1874, 
3 :09 1-2, 3 :08 3-4. The first was a dead heat with Acrobat. 

Mintzer, by imp. Glenelg, Saratoga, July 28, 1879, 3 :09 1-4. 

Falsetto, by Enquirer, Saratoga, July 19, 1879, 3 :09 1-4. 

Zoo Zoo, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, Aug. 2, 1877, 3 ;10. 

TWO MILES. 

Ten Broeck, by imp. Phseton, against time, Louisville, May 29, 1877, 
3:27 1-2. 

McWhirter, by Enquirer, Louisville, May 28, 1877, 3:30 1-2. 

Courier, by Star Davis, Louisville, May 28, 1877, 3:31 3-4. 

Katie Pease,* by Planet, Buffalo, Sept. 9, 1874, 3 :32 1-2. 

True Blue, by Lexington, Saratoga, July 30, 1873, 3 :32 1-2. 

Jack Frost, by Jack Malone, Cleveland, O., July 31, 1874, 3 :33 1-2. 

Glenmore, by imp. Glen Acuol, Detroit, July 5, 1879, 3 :83 1-2. 

Lizzie Lucas, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, Aug. 21, 1874, 3 :33 3-4. 

Creedmoor by Asteroid, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 20, 1876, 3:34. 

Geo. Graham, by Rogers ; first heat ; Louisville, Ky., Sept. 25. 1875, 
3 :34. 

Lord Murphy, by Pat Malloy, Louisville, Sept. 22, 1879, 3 :34. 

King Alfonso, by imp. Phseton, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 20, 1875, 3 :34 1-2. 

Hegira, by imp. Ambassador, New Orleans, La., Nov. 23, 1850, 3 :34 1-2. 

Littleton, by imp. Leamington, Lexington, Ky., May 23, 1871, 3 :34 1-2. 

Monitor, by imp. Glenelg, Baltimore, Oct. 21, 1879, 3 :34 3-4. 

Wilful, by imp. Australian, Prospect Park, June 24, 1879, 3:34 3-4. 

Charlie Howard, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 10, 1876, 3:35. 

Vandalite, by Vandal, Breckinridge Stake, Baltimore, Oct. 23, 1874, 
3:35. 

Himyar, by Alarm, Louisville, Sept. 25, 1879, 3:35. 

Falsetto, by Enquirer, Saratoga, Aug. 14, 1879, 3:35 1-4. 

Volturno, by imp. Billet, Baltimore, Oct. 25, 1879, 3:35 1-4. 

Vandalite, by Vandal, Dixie Stake, Baltimore, Oct. 20, 1874, 3:35 1-2. 

Harry Basset, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 16, 1871, 3:35 1-4. 

Vigil, by Virgil, Baltimore, Oct. 28, 1876,^3:37 1-4. 

*Katie Pease came in first, but was disqualified, and race given to 
Lizzie Lucas. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 23o 

TWO MILE HEATS. 

♦Brademante, by War Dance, Jackson, Miss., Nov. 17,1877 (?) 
3:32 1-4, 3:29.?. 

Willie D., by Revolver, Prospect Park, Sept. 11, 1879, 3:34 1-2, 3:35. 

Lottery, by Monday, Sacramento, Cal, Sept. 21, 1878, 3:36, 3:35 1-2. 

Arizona, by Lexington, Louisville, Ky., May 18, 1875, 3:37 1-4, 
3:351-2. 

Aureola, by War Dance, Lexington, Sept. 18, 1872, 3 :37 3-4, 3 :35 1-2. 

London, by Lightning, NashviUe, Oct. 5, 1872, 3:36 3-4, 3:37 1-4. 

Bushwhacker, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Baltimore, Oct. 22, 1878, 
3:36, 3. -36 1-2, 3:38 1-2. 

Princeton won second heat by head. Bushwhacker second ; best aver- 
age three heats. 

Belle of Nelson, by Hunter's Lexington, Cincinnati, June 1, 1878, 
3:37 1-4, 3:36 1-4. 

MoUie Jones, by Roxbury, Galesburg, 111., July 4, 1874; Rocket won 
first heat, 3 :36, 3 :40, 3 :37 1-4. 

Eolus, by imp. Leamington, Baltimore, May 28, 1874 ; the fastest 
third heat, 3:40, 3:39 1-4, 3:36 3-4. 

Lancaster, by Lexington, Lexington, K"., Sept. 12, 1867, 3:35 1-4, 
3 :38 1-4. 

Jack Sheppard, by Jack Malone, Nashville, Oct. 12, 1876, 3:35 3-4, 
3:42 1-2. 

Irish King, by Longfellow, Baltimore, Oct. 21, 1879, 3 :37 3-4, 3 :37 3-4. 

Harkaway, by Enquirer, St. Louis, June 7, 1878, 3:39, 3:35 1-4. 

*Brademante's time very doubtful. 

TWO MILES AND ONE-EIGHTH. 

Aristides, by imp. Leamington, Lexington, Ky., May 10, 1876, 3 :45 1-2. 
Mate, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, July 31, 1875, 3 :46 3-4. 
Monmouth, by War Dance, Louisville, May 19, 1875, 3 :48 1-4. 
Big Fellow, by War Dance, May 15, 1874, 3 :50. 
Dave Moore, by Longfellow, Lexington, May 16, 1879, 3:50 1-2. 
Ferida, by imp. Glenelg, Prospect Park, Sept. 5, 1879, 3 :54. 
Springbok, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, Aug. 3, 1874, 3 :56. 
Sultana, by Lexington, Jerome Park, Oct. 7, 1876, 3 ;56 3-4. 

TWO MILES AND A QUARTER. 

Preakness, by Lexington; Springbok, by imp. Australian, dead heat, 
3:56 1-4. 

Harry Bassett, by Lexington, Saratoga, July. 16, 1872, 3 :59. 
Wanderer, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug. 13, 1874, 4 :00 1-2. 
Kentucky, by Lexington, Saratoga, Aug., 1865, 4:01 1-2. 
Fortuna, by Enquirer, Louisville, May 23, 1879, 4:01 1-2. 



236 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Bramble, by imp. Bomiie Scotland, Baltimore, May 24, 1879, 4:02. 
Mollie McCarty, by Monday or Eclipse, Chicago, June 25, 1879, 4:02. 
Muggins, by Jack Malone, Saratoga, Aug., 1867, 4:03. 

TWO AND A HALF MILES. 

Aristides, by imp. Leamington, Lexington, Ky.,May 13, 1876, 4 :27 1-2. 
, Katie Pease, by Planet, Buffalo, Sept. 10, 1874, 4:28 1-2. 
Ballankeel, by Asteroid, Baltimore, Oct. 22, 1874, 4:31 3-4. 
Helmbold, by imp. Australian, Long Branch, July 30, 4:32 1-2- 
Tom Ochiltree, by Lexington, Jerome Park, June 18, 1877, 4:36 1-2. 
Edinburgh, by Longfellow, Cincinnati, June 7, 1879, 4:36 1-2. 

TWO MILES AND FIVE-EIGHTHS. 

Ten Broeck, by imp. Phaeton, Lexington, Ky., 1876, 4:58 1-2. 

, TWO MILES AND THREE-QUARTERS. 

Hubbard, by Planet, Saratoga, 1873, 4:58 3-4. 

Kentucky, by Lexington, Jerome Park, Oct. 3, 1866, 5 :04. 

Tom Ochiltree, by Lexington, Jerome Park, June 17, 1876, 5:09 1-4. 

THREE MILES. 

Ten Broeck, by imp. Phseton, Louisville, Ky., Sept. 23, 1876, 5 :26 1-2. 
Monarchist, by Lexington, at Jerome Park, 1872 ; first mile, 1 :45 ; 
5:34 1-2. 

Tom Ochiltree, by Lexington, Long Branch, July 6, 1876, 5:35 3-4. 

THREE MILE HEATS. 

Brown Dick, by imp. Margrave, New Orleans, April 10, 1865 ; the 
best second heat on record, and second best three mile heat race, 
5:30 3-4; 5:28. 

Mollie Jackson, by Vandal, Louisville, Ky., May 25, 1861; Sherrod 
won the second heat. The last two miles of the first heat were run in 
3 :35 ; the last two of the second heat in 3 :36 3-4 : the ninth mil© in 
1 :48 1-4. This is the best three heats and the best third heat on record, 
5 :35 1-2 ; 5 ;54 3-4 ; 5 :28 3-4. 

Norfolk, by Lexington, Sacramento, Cal., Sept. 23, 1875; best avei^ 
age two heats, 5 :27 1-2 ; 5 :29 1-2. 

Vandal, by imp. Glencoe, Lexington, May 26, 1855, 5 :36 1-2 ; 5 :33. 

Whisper by Planet, St. Louis, June, 8, 1878, 5:39-; 5:35 1-2. 

FOUR MILES. 

Ten Broeck, by imp. Phseton, vs. Fellowcraft's time, Louisville, Ky., 
Sept. 7, 1876, 7:14 3-4. 

Fellowcraft, by imp. Australian, Saratoga, Aug. 20, 1874, 7 :19 1-2. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 237 

Lexington, by Boston, vs. time, New Orleans-, La., April 2, 1855, 
7:17 3-4. 

Lexington, by Boston, beating Lecomte, New Orleans, April 14, 1855, 
7 :23 3-4. 

Janet, by Lightning, Louisville, Sept. 27, 1879, 7 :29. 

Wildidle, by imp. Australian, San Francisco, Oct. 28, 1875, 7 :25 1-2. 

Idlewild, by Lexington, over Centreville Course, L. I., June 25, 1863, 
7 :26 1-4. 

Thad. Stevens, by Langford,- best second heat, California, Oct. 18, 
1873, 7:30. 

Kentucky, by Lexington, Saratoga, 1866, 7:31 1-2. 

Silent Friend, by imp. Australian, New Orleans, April 21 , 1873, 7 :30 1-2. 

Kentucky, by Lexington, vs. time at Jerome Park, 1867 ; first two 
miles, 3 :36 ; first three 5 :29 ; 7 :31 3-4. 

Abd-el-Kader, by Australian, Saratoga, 1869, 7:31 3-4. 

Abd-el-Koree, by imp. Australian, Jerome Park, Fall 1871 ; best time 
for a three-year-old, 7 :33. 

Monarchist, by Lexington, Jerome Park, 1872 ; first two miles, 3 :39 
3-4 ; first three, 5 :36 ; 7 :33 1-2. 

Tom Ochiltree, by Lexington, Jerome Park, Oct. 12, 1876, 7 :36. 

FOUR MILE HEATS. 

Lecompte, by Boston, at New Orleans, April 8, 1854, beating Lexing- 
ton and Reube, 7 : 26, 7 : 38 1-4. 

Rupee, by Voucher, April 10, 1858, 7 :39, 7 :35. 

Miss Foot, by imp. Consol, at New Orleans, March 26, 1842, 8:02, 
7:35. 

Fashion, by imp. Trustee, over Union Course, L. I., May 10, 1842, 
beating Boston match, 7 :32 1-2, 7 :45. 

Morgan Scout, by John Morgan, at Lexington, Ky., 1870, best race 
ever run in Kentucky, 7 :32 1-2, 7 :43 1-2. 

George Martin, by Garrison Zinganzee, beating Hannah Harris and 
Reel, March 29, 1843. Reel broke down in first heat, 7 :33, 7 :43. 

Bushwhacker, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, Baltimore, Oct. 26, 1878. 
Princeton won second heat, 7 :31, 7 :36 1-4, 8 :29. 

Glenmore, by imp. Glen Athol, Baltimore, two and three heats, best 
third heat, 7 :29 1-2, 7 :30 1-4 7 :31. 

Tally-ho, by Boston, at Union Course, L. I., Oct. 8, 1849 ; Free Trade 
won the first heat, Boston the third, and Tally-ho second and fourth, 
7 :33 1-2, 7 :43 1-2, 7 :52, 8 :10 1-2. 

HURDLE RACES. 

Joe Rodes, by Virgil, mile heats, over four hurdles, St. Louis, June 4, 
1878, 1 :50 3-4, 1 :50 1-4. 



238 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Judith, by imp. Gleiielg, mile heats, over four hurdles, Prospect Park, 
Sept. 11, 1879, 1:52, 1:52. 

Lobelia, by imp. Bonnie Scotland, mile heats, over four hurdles. Fash- 
ion Course, L. I., Sept. 11, 1869, 1 :51 3-4, 1 :53 1-4. 

Waller, by imp. Hurrah, one and a quarter miles, over five hurdles, 
Saratoga, Aug. 14, 1878, 2:21 1-2. 

Disturbance, by Chillicothe, one and a quarter miles, over 5 hurdles, 
Saratoga. Aug. 22, 1878, 2:21 3-4. 

Problem, by Pimlico, one and a half miles over 6 hurdles, Long 
Branch, July 5, 1879, 2:50. 

Derby, by Eugene, one and a half miles, over six hurdles. Long Branch, 
July 2, 1878, 2:52. 

Judith, by imp. Glenelg, one and three-quarter miles, over seven nur- 
dles. Long Branch, Aug.''28, 1879, 3:36 1-2. 

Tom Leathers, by Camps Whale, two miles, over eight hurdles. New 
Orleans, April 16, 1875, 3:47 1-2. 

Redman, by War Dance, two miles, over eight hurdles, Louisville, Ky., 
May 19, 1876, 3:48 1-2. 

Captain Hutchinson, by Voucher, two miles, over eight hurdles, Co- 
lumbus, O., July 3, 1875, 3:50. 

Jonesboro, by Lexington, two miles, over eight hurdles, welter weights : 
New Orleans, April 11^ 1868, 3:51 1-2. 

Milesian, by imp. Mickey Free, two miles, over eight hurdles, welter 
weights ; Long Branch, Aug. 3, 1872, 3:52 1-2. 

Cariboo, by Lexington, Iavo and a quarter miles, over nine hurdles, 
Long Branch, 1875, 4:33. 

STEEPLE CHASES. 

Dead Head, by Julius, about two and three-quarter miles, thirty-six 
leaps, Saratoga, Aug. 26, 1878, 5:33 1-2 

Trouble, by Ulverston, about two and three-quarter miles, thirty-six 
leaps, Saratoga, Aug. 19, 1876, 5 : 34 3-4. 

Duffey, by Hunter's Lexington, about two and three-quarter miles, 
thirty-six leaps, Saratoga, Aug. 5, 1873, 5 :48 3-4. 

FASTEST TROTTING TO WAGON. 

One mile, Judge Fullerton, San Francisco, Nov., 1874, time 2:20 1-2. 
Two miles, Gen. Butler and Dexter, each a heat, Long Island, 1863, time 
4:56 1-4. 

Three miles, Kemble Jackson, June, 1853, time 8:03. 

Four miles, Longfellow, Dec. 31, 1869, tune 10:34 1-2. 

Five miles, Little Mack, Long Island, Oct. 29, 1863, time 13:43 1-2. 

Twenty miles, John Stewart, Long Island, Sept. 22, 1868, time 59 :23. 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 230 

TRAINING TO TROTTING. 

The idea of the average horse owner is that training means pampering 
the horse. Nothing could be further from the mark. It truly means 
the very best and most intelligent care, feeding and exercise for the work 
to to be performed, and this exercise must be in proportion to the 
distance. 

The artificial care given the horse in confinement renders blankets 
necessary for all fast working horses. Doubly so for turf horses, whose 
pace is of the most exhausting kind. To get rid of suijerfluous fl«sh 
sweating and exercise is necessary. The superfluous flesh and undue 
moisture of the body having been properly reduced, then the pace of the 
horse should correspond to that expected in the final trial. That is for 
mile heats a faster pace will be required than for longer heats, but the 
horse must be carefully worked up to the point, the improvement being 
cjirefuUy and intelligently watched, that as the day of trial approaches 
he may have a real trial of speed for the distance to be trotted. There 
is, however, no rule that can be laid down as to the amount of work to 
be done before this trial takes place. It will depend upon his condition 
while at work and the manner in which he accomplishes his brushes, as 
spurts of speed are called for short distances. These are among the 
most important parts of training, since they tend not only to extend 
the stride of the horse and improvement in speed, but the manner of 
coming out of them will indicate the condition of the animal. 

High-strung, eager, generous horses must be handled in a very differ- 
ent manner from sterner tempered ones. In any case, the horse must 
come to place implicit confidence in his driver. The first must be re- 
strained ; the second urged. The first named seldom have the power to 
accomplish all they would. The second must be made to know that it is 
speed and distance that is required, and that they must go the pace if it 
is in them. 

Feeding is essentially important. Some horses crave much hay. Such 
nmst be restrained ; some gluttons will eat their bedding. If so, they 
must be muzzled when not feeding, and always so at night. If a horse 
is so light a feeder that he will not eat twelve quarts of oats a day, he 
may have a little Indian corn, but this only in exceptional cases. Sound, 
heavy oats, thoroughly cleaned and sifted, should constitute the feed of 
the trotting horse, or any horse of fast work. The light feeder must be 
carefully watched in his work. Some horses will eat fourteen to sixteen 
quarts of oats a day. Such should have corresponding exercise ; for in 
no event must fat be allowed to accumulate. We should prefer to limit 
any horse, however large and powerful, to fourteen quarts of oats per 



240 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

day, or rather to that number of pounds. As a rule twelve quarts or 
pounds should suffice for the average horse. 

Hiram Woodruff, than whom there is no better authority, in his work 
on "The Trotting Horse of America," in relation to the preparation 
which precedes the first trial, says : 

During the preparation which precedes the first trial, it will be. neces- 
sary to give the horse one or two sweats. Whether it ought to be one or 
two must be indicated by the condition and nature of the animal, the races 
in which he is engaged, and resolved by the judgment of the trainer. The 
amount of clothes in which he shall be sweated must be determined by 
the same considerations. Some may require a blanket and hood, and a 
wrapper round the neck to start the perspiration out of them : while 
there are others that will sweat freely with but little clothes, and scrape 
well when more have been thrown on at the end of the jog. One thing 
may certainly be said, that a sweat obtained without the use of heavy 
clothing is more satisfactory and better than one with it, provided the 
latter method does not include a good deal more work to get the sweat. 
Only a moderate quantity of clothing and little work while the horse is going 
are the best for a sweat, if a good scrape can thus be obtained. When the 
horse comes from the drive, and is taken out of the wagon, he will soon 
be ready to scrape. That done, he must be blanketed up again, and 
walked about out of the draft. A favorable day for the sweat ought to 
be taken advantage of, as' a matter of course. Another light scrape may 
jDrobably be had after some little time spent in walking in the blankets ; 
but, if the perspiration does not continue so as to give this second scrape, 
it is not to be forced by more work in the clothes. To be of use in itself, 
and as a satisfactory indication that the condition of the horse is advanced 
it must come of itself. During the time this scraping process is in 
course of operation, the trainer having the conduct of it should not be in 
a hurry. The same things that are said to cure a man's cold — patience 
and a little water-gruel — will often do wonders in procuring a good 
sweat. Commonly, however, it is easy enough to get the sweat and 
scrape, but more difficult to cool the horse out properly. In order to do 
this well, he is to be clothed again, and led very gently about for a 
considerable period, so that he may become cool gradually, and the per- 
spiration may dry away by degrees. This walking is to be out of all 
draft as much as possible ; and it will not do to hurry it over, and go to 
the stable, until the horse has cooled off well and gradually. When the 
proper state has been reached, the horse is to be taken into the stable and 
his body is to be well dressed. This done, he is to be re-clothed, and 
again led into the air. 

A few sups of gruel, made of Indian meal or fine shorts, from half a 



RACING, OH TDRF HORSES. 241 

})int to a pint of the meal stirred into a bucket of water may now be 
given to the horse, or water with the chill taken off it may be used as a 
substitute for the gruel. When taken into the stable again, which will 
be after a little more walking about in the air, the legs arc to be put in 
tubs of warm water, the body clothing being kept on. The legs are then 
to be well washed with the water and castile soap, and Avhcn dried off to 
be bandaged. These bandages should be of light flannel, and it is imma- 
terial whether it is red or white. They are not to be put on tight. The 
legs of a horse ought never to be bandaged tight, for such a course im- 
pedes the circulation into the feet, where there is a great necessity for it ; 
but losing sight of this, the 1)andagcs are sometimes pulled so that it 
looks as if they were intended to serve as a tourniquet, and stoj) the cir- 
culation of the blood altogether. Neither can it serve any useful purpose, 
that I can see, to bind the suspensory ligament up to the bone of the leg. 
Nature intended that in the horse it should stand out from it, as we see in 
the fine flat legs of the best runners and trotters. Whatever support is 
required may be obtained with only a moderate degree of tightness ; and I 
have sometimes thought that an elastic stocking, such as our best surgeons 
use in cases of bad strain to the nerves and muscles of the human foot 
and ankle, would be a very useful article in a training-stable. 

DRIVING. 

The average farmer's boy supposes he can drive a trotting horse. Has 
he not seen the pictures of drivers sitting back, apparently holding to the 
reins Avith a grasp, as though the stronger the horse was pulled the faster 
he could go? Such driving never got speed out of ahorse. The best 
drivers simply allow the horse to pull on the bit with suflicient force to 
steady himself, and this pulling force must be graduated according to 
circumstances. It is true many fast horses are hard pullers, and gener- 
ally so from defects in training. The bit and reins are intended simply 
as the medium of communication between the horse and the driver, and 
the more intelligently the horse is trained to their use, the more will be 
got out of him. The horse should be taught to take a firm hold of the 
bit, not for the purpose of pulling upon, but that the driver may give the 
horse needed support and steadiness, and that intelligent action may be 
established between the driver and the horse. 

The object of keeping the horse well in command during fast work, on 
the road as well as on the track, is that he may instantly respond to the 
wish of the driver through the medium of the reins. Thus he may be 
pressed from day to day in his speed, until he at last comes to the full 
measure of his powers. 

Although trotting sjDeed does not come to the horse until some years 



242 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

after he is fully developed in growth, the history of trotting shows that 
this increase of speed continues to develop until the horse is from ten to 
twelve years old. Hence there should be no hurry to develop the animal 
while young. He should be driven from the time he is three years ^Id, 
sufficient to cause him to lengthen his stride as much as possible. He 
should be taught to listen quickly, never to frighten or shy at any ob- 
ject, and this by familiarizing him with whatever may be near. In his 
brushes, either on the road or the track, however sharp they may be, 
they should never be extended until the animal shows signs of distress. 
When he is being regularly trained for some public trial of speed, it will 
be time enough to find out if he can go the desired pace. 

DRIVING ON THE ROAD. 

Road driving, like driving or riding a race, is a fine art. In road 
driving the object is not only to get good speed out of the animal driven, 
but he must also be made to go in fine style. With a horse of naturally 
fine action, this, if the driver understands his business, is not difficult. If 
not a horse of naturally fine style and action, he may be spoiled. For 
road work the hovse should have been better flexed than when he is to 
be used for trotting a race. He must be able to turn out quickly and 
handsomely in passing or meeting other teams. When being driven 
slowly, he must carry himself handsomely. Thus something must be 
sacrificed to this end. 

Every horse should have a perfect fitting bit. It should be of the 
proper size and length for the mouth, and this can only be decided by 
trial. Keep trying different bits until you find one in which the horse 
works comfortably. Above all, in handling a young horse do not injure 
the mouth with a cruel or rough bit. Above all, never be so cruel as k) 
jerk his mouth with the reins. The bit is the medium of communication 
between the driver and the horse. If there is any speed in the horse, it 
is to be gotten out of him by means of the bit, and hence the more sens- 
itive you can keep the mouth, the more likely you are to succeed. If 
you render the mouth numb or callous through pulling, twitching, saw- 
ing or other smart tricks of drivers, you do so to the permanent injury of 
the horse. Therefore first acquire a nice touch yourself, and there will 
be no difficulty in imparting it to the horse. 

Never lose your temper with the horse. If a horse does so that is no 
reason why you should. Never strike a horse with the whip for any 
fault, and then jerk him back with the reins. If necessary to punish 
him, first assure yourself that you have him sufficiently well in hand, so 
he cannot "jump out of the harness." Have a definite object in view, 
for every use of rein or whip. Above all avoid a steady, rigid pull on 
tJie horse. Some horses will not trot without being pulled hard. It is 



EACING, OR TURF HORSES. 243 

usually from defect in training. The perfect horse is trained to pull just 
sufficient to steady himself in harness. How Hiram Woodruff drove, he 
tells in his " Trotting-Horse of America." No one, during his life, or 
since his death, was better authority in such matters. Hence, we cannot 
do better than to give it to our readers in his exact words. 

In order that a fast horse should be under circumstances to do his best, 
he should be as much at his ease in his harness and general rig as possible. 
If he is not, he is placed at almost as much disadvantage as if sore or 
stiff, or suffering from some bodily ailment. You may see horses brought 
out of the stable to trot with a very tight check to keep their heads up, 
and a tight martingale to keep them down. Such a horse is in irons ; and 
"when to this is added a dead drag at the reins, and no movement of the 
bit from end to end, I cannot sec how he could do his best. People talk 
about a steady, bracing pull ; but, in my opinion, that is not the right 
way to drive a trotter. There is a great difference between letting go of 
your horse's head, and keeping up one dull, deadening pull all the time. 
The race-horse riders practice what is called i\ bracing pull ; and, a great 
many times, I have seen their horses tire under it without ever running 
their best. The steady pull checked them. The pull should be sufficient 
to feel the mouth, and give some support and assistance, so as to give 
the horse confidence to get up his stride. More than that is mischievous. 
To keep the mouth alive, the bit must be shifted a little occasionally. A 
mere half-turn of the waist, or less than half a turn, by which the thumb 
is elevated and the little finger lowered, is sufficient to shift the bit, keep 
the mouth sensitive, and rouse the horse. 

The reins are to be held steadily with both hands while this play Avith 
the wrist is made ; and it is, of course, only done with one wrist at a time. 
The hands should be well down ; and the driver ought not to sit all of a 
heap, with his head forward. Neither should he lean back, with his bod- 
ily weight on the reins, which, in that case, are made a sort of staj^ f(>r 
him. He should be upright; and what pulling he must do should 
be done by the muscular force of the arms. The head and the arms are 
what a good driver uses ; but some hold their arms straight out, and pull 
by means of putting the dead weight of their bodies on the reins. If, 
instead of lying back, and putting their bodily weight on the reins, with 
which latter they take a turn round their hands, drivers would depend 
upon their muscular strength, they could let up on the pull, graduate it, 
and so ease the horse from time to time instantaneously. The driver who 
depends upon the arms has command of the horse : he who substitutes 
bodily weight with the reins strapped round his hands, has not half com- 
mand of the horse, or of himself either; and, if the horse is a puller, 
he will soon take command of the driver. The reason of it is, that there 



244 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR, 

is no intermission of the exertion, no let up, either for man or horse. 
Besides, in that way of driving, it is impossible to give those movements 
to the bit which seem to refresh and stimulate the horse so much. 
When a horse has been taught the significance of this movement of .the 
bit, the shift by the turn of the wrist, he will never fail to answer it, even 
though he should seem to be at the top of his speed. The moment he 
feels this little move of the bit in his sensitive mouth, he will collect him- 
self, and make another spurt ; and the value of this way of driving is, 
that the horse is not likely to break when thus called upon, while a high- 
strung, generous horse, if called upon for a final effort with a whip, is as 
likely to break the moment it falls on him as not. I have won many a 
very close heat by practising this movement, and therefore I have no hes- 
itation in recommending it. It is not difiicult to acqun-e, and the horse 
soon comes to know what it means. 

Let us come now to the way of takmg nola ot the reins. A wrap 
around the hand, such as running-horse riders take, is clumsy and bad. 
I do not know whether many people take hold of the reins as I do, or 
not. Perhaps not. Sim. Hoagland is the only one who takes hold pre- 
cisely as I do, so far as I have observed. When we have been jogging 
horses together at early morning, we have often talked over these mat- 
ters ; and, whether our way was the best way or not, we could never see 
any other that suited us half so well. 

I will try to explain how I hold the reins : I could show it in two sec- 
onds. Take, first, the right-hand rein. This, coming from the bit, 
passes between the little finger and the third finger, over the little finger, 
then under the other three fingers, and up over the thumb. The left- 
hand rein is held in the left hand exactly in the same Avay ; but the bight 
of the slack of the rein is also held between the thuml) and forefinger 
of the left hand. This gives some substance in that hand ; but, if it is 
found inconvenient to have it there by those who have small hands, it may 
be dropped altogether. A firm grasp on each rein, with the backs of the 
hands up, and without any wrap, is thus obtained. It is a great point in 
driving to be able to shift the reach — that is. the length of the hold you 
take — without for an instant letting go of the horse's head. With this 
way of holding the reins, it is easily done. If I want to shorten the 
hold on the left hand rein (the near one), I take hold of that rein just 
l)ehind the left hand with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, and 
steady it. This is very easily done ; and it does not interfere at all with 
the command of the off rein with the right hand. The near rein being 
thus steadied behind the left hand, I slide that hand forward on the rein, 
which is kept over the little finger, under the other three fingers, and over 
the thumb all the time, and then shut the grasp again on the new reach. 



EACING, OR TURF HORSES. 245- 

A shift with the right hand is made just in the same way, by taking hold 
and steadying the rein behind that hand with the thumb and forefinger of 
the left hand. 

" I have often oljserved, that, with other methods of holding the reins, 
there was great difficulty in shifting the reach. The driver tries to do it ; 
but, for an instant, he has let go of the horse's head on one side alto- 
gether, and l)roken his stride. When this is found to be the case, tlie 
dead pull all the time is adopted ; and this spoils the freedom and elas- 
ticity of the horse's stride, and chokes off his wind. I do not intend 
this to be taken as instruction for professional drivers. Every driver has 
a way of his own ; and some of them have very good ways, for, as I 
have taken occasion to state before, they drive well. But what I have 
set down above may be of service to gentlemen who drive their own 
horses, and to those young men who, having as yet no settled method of 
their own, may think it well enough to try that which I have found t<) 
answer. Another* word about bits. I am opposed to the use of severe; 
bits, and complicated things of that sort. Some of the inventors of sucM 
things say I am prejudiced; but I don't think I am. If a man has u 
horse that cannot be driven with a bar-bit or a snaffle, he may as well sell 
him, exce^Dt it is a very exceptional case. Where are these kinds of 
severe complicated bits most in use? Why, in England ; five hundred or 
a thousand of them are used there to one that is used here : and where 
do the horses trot the best? These bits are mostly invented by men who 
have had no practical experience whatever as to what sort of driving u 
fast trotter requires to keep his gait square and bold, and induce him tr, 
do his best when it is called for. When a horse has a good mouth — and 
a bad one is almost always the fault of bad breaking and driving — the 
easier the bit you use, the better he will act for you, and the more speed 
he will show you." 

Trotting Horses. 
It has often been said of Northern and Eastern men, that they do not 
take kindly to the saddle. In a sense this is true, especially in the 
North. In England the passion for riding in the saddle grew up at a 
time when there were, so to speak, no roads. In the earlier settlement 
of America, throughout the then vast timber region, the same state of 
things existed ; but a people who settle a new country have somethuig 
else to think of than riding to hounds or other pleasure ridins:. So the 
country became settled ; the level or gently undulating nature of the 
country rendered good roads passable at light cost, and the absence of 
preserves of game, a landed aristocracy, and the improvement in vehicles 
for pleasure and use, tended to force public taste in the dii"ection of driv- 

IG 



246 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK, 



mg Hence the early app.eciation of the trotting horse and tl,P „n 
derfu development in speed in this direction. ° ' ' " ""- 

In the South, racing stock held its own, and does even to this dnv a 
nobly have they contested the paln. „f victory, and :::::^'ZlX 




haid fought fields of racing blood in England and onr own country At 
the North, however, the trotting horse now rei<.ns supreme T w ,t 
n.tent,on here to present something of the wondef'rease ta speed' 
«.d endurance of the trotting horse of America, with infor,:" o o7 he 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 247 

most celebrated horses that early gave fashion to this style of going, and 
a full list of animals and performances, that the reader may see at a 
glance the growth of this passion for trotting horses. 

EARLY TROTTERS. 

Until 1823 we have but little authentic information that regular trot- 
ting courses were established, and not until 1830 were fast trotting 
courses established. According to Porter's Spirit of the Times, the first 
public trotting in America for a stake was a match against time for $1,000. 

In 1824, A, M. Giles trotted his horse 28 miles in one hour and fifty- 
seven seconds. The same year Topgallant and Betsey Baker were 
matched to trot three miles in harness for $1,000 a side. The race was 
Avon by Topgallant by 40 yards, in 8 minutes, 42 seconds. Topgallant 
also trotted 12 miles on the road in 39 minutes. The "Albany pony" 
did a mile in 2 minutes, 40 seconds. The Treadwell mare did one mile 
in 2 :34 ; and Boston Blue trotted 18 miles within the hour. Boston 
Blue is reported to have been the first horse that trotted a mile in three 
minutes ; it having been done in 1818. So that it will be seen that the 
Treadwell mare in 1824 had reduced the time to 2 :34. Yet for many 
years after a 2 :40 horse was considered extraordinary, as also was any 
horse capable of going on the road in 3 minutes. 

In 1827, on the Hunting Park Association of Philadelphia, Screwdriver 
won two heats at two miles, beating Betsey Baker in 8 :02 and 8 :10, the 
three best time on record. Dutchman afterwards accomplished the same 
distance in 7 :32 1-2, and Lady Suffolk in 7 :40 1-2. 

In 1840, on the Long Island course, Jerry beat Whalebone in a three 
mile trotting race, in 8 :23 the first heat, and 8 :15 the second. The best 
time for 2 mile heats that year was 5 :22; 5 :21 ; for 3 miles, 8 :26, 8 :27, 
8:41, 8:56. On long distances Sweetbrier accomplished six miles in 
18:52. 

In 1834 Edwin Forrest, as yet an unentered horse, trotted his mile in 
2 :31 1-2, beating Sally Miller. The course was 1 mile and 10 yards in 
length. 

In 1835 Dutchman made four miles, under the saddle, in 11 :19 and 
10 :51, and Dolly, by Messenger, out of a thoroughbred mare, five miles 
to w^agon, carrying two men, weighing 310 pounds, in 16 :45 ; and imme- 
diately was started again to do 10 miles more, which she accomplished in 
34:07. The same year the horse Daniel D. Xhompkins, under the sad- 
dle, trotted three mile heats in 7 :59 and 8 :10. 

In 1842 Ripton beat Lady Suffolk, at 3 miles in harness, in 5 :07 and 
5:17. 

In 1843 Lady Suffolk made mile heats in 2:28 1-2, 2:28, •2:2^, 2:29 



248 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and 2 :32, which was not again equaled until 1854, when this record wn. 
covered by Tacouy. 

In 1844 Cayuga Chief made the first half mile in a race in 1 :15, the 
fastest yet made in public ; and Fanny Jenks accomplished 100 miles, in 
harness, in 9 hours 38 minutes 34 seconds. The slowest mile was done 
in 6 :25 and the fastest in 4 :47. At the end of the race this mare was' 
driven an extra mile in 4 :23. 

In 1849 Lady Suffolk trotted 19 times and won 12, beating Grey Eagle 
and Mac twice, Pelham five times. Lady Sutton twice, Trustee four times : 
also beat Black Hawk, Gray Trouble, Plumbay and other horses. This 
year a Canadian mare, Fly, is said to have been driven from Cornwall to 
Montreal, ninety miles, in 8 hours and 15 minutes. Fanny Jenks made 
100 miles in 9 hours 38 minutes and 34 seconds. Fanny Murray trotted 
one hundred miles in 9 hours 41 minutes 23 seconds. 

In 1852 Tacony won 12 races, beating all the best horses of the day , 
making a single mile in 2 :26 ; two miles in 5 :02, and was beaten only 
twice. As a 3 year Ethan Allen trotted this year in 3 :20. Flora Tem- 
ple this year won her first purse, on the regular turf, in 2 :41. 

In 1853 the entire sporting interest was centered in Flora Temple and 
Tacony. Flora this year beat all the best horses of the day, winning 
seventeen times. Her best time at mile heats was 2:27, 2:28, and at '( 
mile heats 5 :01 1-2, 4 :59. This year Tacony trotted a mile in 2 :25 1-2. 

In 1856 the contest lay principally between Flora Tempte and Lancet. 
Flora made 11 races, winning nine, beating Lancet four times in harness, 
and Tacony three times in harness, Tacony going under the saddle. This 
year Flora Temple lowered the one mile record to 2 :24 1-2. 

That the trotting horse of America owes his great powers to the infu- 
sion of thorough blood, we have -before stated. To Imported Messen- 
ger is this due in the greatest degree. Messenger's sire was Mambrino, 
his second sire Engineer, and his third sire Samson. Thence to Blaze, 
Flying Childers and the Darley Arabian. Samson is reported to have 
been coarse and homely, and Engineer rough and coarse, but both of these 
horses were of extraordinary substance. 

Another great trotting sire of America was imported Bellfounder. 
There has been much controversy over his breeding, first and last, but 
that he was a staunch trotter, and a getter of admirable horses, there is 
no doubt, giving splendid action to his get. Still, it must be admitted 
that, admirable as was Beflfounder himself, his get was not equal to the 
descendants of Messenger in all that constitutes speed, endurance and 
action. 

Durac also became a valuable factor in our trotting blood. His strain 
of blood appears in the Medley's, Durac Messenger's, Mambrino Chief's 
«.nd Gold Dust's. 



o 

n 


WEK 


2. 


■B ' . 




mh 




RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 249 

One of the sub-families of Messenger's blood, Hambletonian, who 
united the blood of Messenger and Bellfounder, has raised the trotting 
horse of America to the highest point of perfection. He was not 
a handsome horse from a thoroughbred standpoint, if indeed he was 
thoroughbred, which has been doubted. It has been given as follows : 

Hambletonian was by Abdallah ; he by Mambrina, a son of Messenger. 
The dam of Abdallah, the mare Amazonia. The dam of Hambletonian 
by imported Bellfounder ; second dam by Hambletonian ; third dam, 
Silvertail, said to have been by imported Messenger. 

In all that constitutes stoutness and ability to perform, in freedom 
from tendency to disability, his stock has been wonderful. Noted for 
'mmense and strong joints, length and strength of bone, magnificent 
muscular development, prominent, square, massive build, mighty hips 
and excellent barrel, all knit together to form a most admirable frame, 
united to a nervous constitution, that reproduced itself in his descendants, 
in a most wonderful degree. 

One of the finest specimens of the Hambletonian stock is shown on the 
preceding plate. This fine horse was by Rysdyk's Hambletonian, by Abdallah, 
by Mambrino, by Imp. Messenger. Dam Kitt, by Long Island Black Hawk, 
by Andrew Jackson, by Young Bashaw, by Imported Bashaw. Is half-brother 
to Dexter, time 2.17^; Nettie, 2.18 ; Jay Gould, 2.211 . Gazelle, 2.21 ; George 
Wilkes, 2.22 ; Volunteer ( who has eight trotters below 2.25); Edsall's Ham- 
bletonian (Sire of Goldsmith Maid, 2.14); Edward Everett (Sire of Judge 
Fullerton, 2.18 ) ; Bruno and Brunette, that trotted double in 2.25J. Foaled 
1868; bright golden bay; two' white feet; star and small stripe on face; black 
logs, mane and tail ; 15| hands high. A horse of fine finish, and shows his high 
breeding; remarkably strong and well-backed; thick through the heart; game 
head; beautiful, strong eyes, set wide apart; clean, sinewy limbs, and sound 
feet ; perfectly sound, excellent constitution, good temper, and very intelligent; 
a natural trotter, with the big, open, fast, easy, stride of the Hambletonians. 

Of Goldsmith Maid, one of the truly great descendants of this blood, Mr. 
H. T. Helm, of Chicago, in 1876, wrote as follows: 

GOLDSMITH MAID, 

"The Queen of the Trotting Turf, Avas foaled in 1857, and is now 
nmeteen years old. She was bred by John D. Decker, of Sussex county, 
N. J. Her dam was one of those yellow-bay mares so common in the 
produce of old Abdallah. She was undersized, fretful, and of a nervous 
temperament, and up to the age of six years had performed no work of 
any kind, except to run occasional races about and on the farm, for the 
amusement of the boys. In 1863 she was sold by Mr. Decker for $260 ; 
the purchaser selling her again, on the same day, to Mr. Tompkins, for 
$360 ; and she was soon afterward bought by Mr. Alden Goldsmith, for 
$600. The eye of the practical horseman discovered that she was worth 



250 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



the handling. He discovered her ability, and soon brought the world to 
a knowledge of her value. Under his careful and patient management, 
and the skillful drivers employed by him, she soon displayed such speed 




and extraordinary qualities of game and endurance, that he was able to 
sell her, at about the age of eleven years, for the sum of $20,000. The 
purchasers were B. Jackman and Mr. Budd Doble, and, under the guid- 
, nee of the latter, she has steadily advanced in a career of fume that is 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 251 

without a parallel in the history of the trotting turf. She was subse- 
quently sold, by the two gentlemen last named, to H. N. Smith, for the 
sum of $.37,000, and yet remains his property. She has been matched 
against all the great trotters of her period ; and, while she has occasion- 
ally lost a race, she has ultimately vanquished all competitors, and stead- 
ily lowered the record for trotting performances, and at the age of 
eighteen, marked the marvelous, and thus far unapproachable, record of 
a mile in 2 :14. 

"Twice during the year 1876 she trotted in a race in 2 :15, an<l although 
in her first race against the renowned Smuggler she was beat(;n, she by 
no means surrendered her queenly scepter, for again, at Buffalo, she as- 
serted her supremacy in the three fastest successive heats on record. 
Proudly does she command the sympathy and applause of all beholders 
when she hurls at her powerful competitor the defiant challenge, "You 
may become King, but I am yet Queen." 

"It Avere useless to mention the names and performances of others; 
there is no name that can be compared with that of the little bay mare ; 
the fame and the radiance of all others pale before the brilliancy of a 
renown that followed her to the age of twenty years, and has been wit- 
nessed on every great course throughout the expanse of a continent. I 
subjoin a description of the Trotting Queen, from the pen of one of our 
most accurate and capable writers : 

"Goldsmith Maid is a bay mare 15 1-4 hands, no white. She appears, 
at first glance, to be rather delicately made, but this conception is drawn 
from the form, rather than the quality of her make-up. Her head and 
neck are very clean and blood-like ; her shoulder sloping and well placed ; 
middle piece tolerably deep at the girth, but so light in the waist as to 
give her a tucked-up appearance, and one would say a lack of constitu- 
tion, but for the abundant evidence to the contrary ; loin and coupling- 
good ; quarters of the greyhound order — broad and sinewy ; her limbs 
are clean, fine-boned and wiry ; feet rather small, but of good quality. 
She is high mettled, and takes an abundance of work without flinching. 
In her highest trotting form, drawn to an edge, she is almost deer-like in 
appearance, and when scoring for a start and alive to the emergencies of 
the race, with her great flashing eye and dilated nostrils, she is a perfect 
picture of animation and living beauty. Her gait is long, bold and 
sweeping, and she is, in the hands of a driver acquainted Avith her pecu- 
liarities, a perfect piece of machinery. She seldom makes an out-and- 
out break, but frequently makes a skip, and has been accused of losing 
nothino^ in either case. Aside from the distinction of havinof trotted the 
fastest mile on record, she also enjoys the honor of making the fastest 
three consecutive heats ever won in a race, which renders any comments 
upon her staying qualities unnecessary. 



252 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

She continued on the turf until past twenty years old, and after com- 
pleting that age she closed her public career with the year 1877 by 
trotting during that year forty-one heats in 2 :30 or better, and making a 
time record of 2 :14 1-2. Her record stands at the close of her career at 
2 :14, with 332 heats in 2 :30 or better. Her record and her career are 
"the marvel of the age." Goldsmith Maid finally found a home at the Fashion 
stud farm, at Trenton, N. J., there to end her days. 

DEXTER. 

Dexter has been so often described, that the public are familiar with 
his apiDearance. A dark bay or brown gelding, with a white stripe the 
full length and width of his face, and four white legs ; 15 hands, 1 inch 
high ; his head as finely cut in its outline as that of Australian or Bonnie 
Scotland ; an eye that does not stand out with the prominence of the 
Abdallah eye in Hambletonian, but one that sparkles with a glance of 
fire that speaks of that which is back of the orb ; his mane and tail are 
medium in fulness, and in form and blood-like appearance he is hardly 
surpassed by that of any thoroughbred of full age in the country. His 
record of 2 :17 1-4 is familiar to all. 

JAY GOULD. 

Jay Gould is a bright bay horse, of fine mould and finish, 15 hands 2 
inches in height ; rather light-appearing in form, but of great and power- 
fully formed quarters, and a tolerably fair set of limbs. His head is a 
finely formed one, and he has a face that indicates the high degree of in- 
telligence that in so great a measure marks this branch of the family. 
He has trotted twenty heats in 2:30 or better, and reached a record of 
2 :21 1-2, and in addition is credited with one son, King Philip, a young 
horse only five years old, that has trotted nine heats in 2 ;30 or better, 
and reached a record of 2 : 21. 

MAUD S. 

HOW SHE AVAS RAISED AND WHAT SHE HAS ACCOMPLISHED. 

Maud S. was foaled on the Woodburn stud farm, Kentucky, on the 28th of 
March, 1874. She is of Harold, dam Miss Russell by Pilot, Jr., second dam 
Sallie Russell bv old Boston. She is 15 hands 3 inches in height, 1^ inches 
higher behind than in front; her weight is 965 pounds; she is a red-chestnut 
mare without a white spot. Until she was 4 years of age the mare was owned 
by Captain Stone and was formed under his personal supervision. When she 
was a colt she was gentle and affectionate, and a great pet with Captain Stone's 
daughter. Miss Stone became very much attached to her pet, and the mare 
seemed to l)e just as much attached to her. Captain Stone, therefore, requested 
his daughter to name her equine playfellow, and in compliance she gave it her 



RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 253 

own name, Maud Stone, which was afterward abbreviated into Maud S., a name 
which has since become celebrated throughout Europe and America. When 
Maud S. was 4 years old, however. Captain Stone sold her to William H. 
Vanderbilt of New York. That gentleman sent her to a well-known Long 
Island stud farm to be formed. When she was 5 years old, however, he be- 
came dissatisfied with her handling, and sending for Captain Stone requested 
him to take entire charge of her future training. Cai)tain Stone consented, 
and the mare has since that time been in his care. When being speeded the 
mare wears a 4-ounce toe-weight, adjusted so that it can be removed when she 
is jogging, as at that time her trainer never allows it to be worn. 

HER PERFORMANCES. 

Maud S.'s first public exhibition was given July 6th, 1880, at Cincinnati. 
She was entered in the 2.34 class. She won in three heats. Time, 2.23, 2.30 
and 2.28. 

Her next race was at Chicago on July 24th for a special purse against 
Trinkett. The mare won in three heats. Time, 2.19, 2.21 and 2,13J, in her 
second public race thus surprising the sporting world by making a record at 
which old turfmen held up their hands in wonder. 

Maud S. next appeared at Cleveland on July 28th in the 2.19 class. She 
won in three heats; time — 2.24, 2.18, 2.31. 

At Buffalo, August 4th, was the next trot in. the 2.19 class. The mare here 
lost the first heat to Charlie Ford in 2.17 and won the next three in 2.1 5 j, 
2.16f and 2.16|. 

At Rochester was her next trot, on August 12th, against time to beat all 
records. The first quarter was made in 32|, the half in 1.05, the three-quar- 
ters in 1.38 J, and the mile in 2.11 f. 

Chicago was her next trotting place on an exhibition against time. In this 
the now widely celebrated little mare was successful. The first quarter was 
made in 33|, the half 1.04|-, the three-quarters in 1.36f and the mile in 2.11^. 

In her next race at Chicago, September 18th, against time, Maud S. still 
more astonished the world. She made the first quarter in 34 seconds, the 
half mile in 1.04|, the three-quarters in 1.36 and the mile in the wonderful 
time of 2.10f, trotting the middle half in 1.02. 

After this she went into winter quarters at Cincinnati in the height of her 
glory. On the 1st of January, 1881, she was taken up and gave her first 
exhibition at Columbus, Ohio, on June 30th, over a very slow track, against 
Rams' best time over that track of 2.17^. She made the first quarter in 33 
seconds, the half in 1.06|, the three-quarters in 1.40 and the mile in 2.13J. 

At Detroit, July 4th, against St. Julien's best time over that track of 2.16|. 
First quarter in 35|, the half in 1.08, the three-quarters in 1.42| and the mile 
in 2.13|. 



254 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

At Pittsburg, July 13th, first quarter 33 seconds, half mile 1.05|, three- 
quarters 1.37;^, and the mile in 2.10 J, beating her former record. 

At Chicago, July 23, three heats. The first mile, 2.21|. The second mile, 
first quarter, 34J, iialf mile in 1.06, the three-quarters in 1.38 and the mile 
in 2.11^. The third mile, first quarter, in 34 seconds, the half in 1.06|^, the 
three-fourths in 1.37J, and the mile in 2.11. This was considered the greatest 
performance ever achieved by Maud S. Beside trotting the three fastest 
miles ever trotted by any horse, the track over which it was done was believed 
by the best judges to be at least three seconds slow. 

Her best record up to August, 1881, was made at Rochester (August 
11th), when she trotted the mile without a break in 2.10^. 

In short, she has put to her credit in three years the best heat as a 4-year- 
old ; the best heat as a 6-year-old ; five heats faster than any other horse has 
ever trotted or paced, one of them when 6 years old ; the fastest heat in a 
race with other horses; the fastest first, second and third heats; the fastest 
two consecutive heats, and the fastest three consecutive heats. Nothing more 
is needed to demonstrate her superiority in point of speed and stay combined 
over any animal living or dead; but the public lias set its heart on her beating 
2.10, and, until she does it, the public's cap will not be thrown up. 

W. W.- Bair is entitled to great credit for developing the wonderful speed 
of Maud S. She is a highly-bred mare, and wants to be humored. Her heart 
is won by kindness. She will not stand harsh treatment ; will not prove 
obedient under rough usage. Both Bair and his wife made much of Maud 
S. They petted her and treated her to apples and lumps ofsugar. The result 
is that she will eagerly respond to their call. When jogging on the track at 
Chester Park the presence of Mrs. Bair near the rail at any time would cause 
Maud to turn in that direction. During the winter the mare ran in a roomy box. 
In April she was put in front of a break-cart, and Mr. Bair drove her about 
the streets of Clifton and Cincinnati, and thus got her accustomed to the noise 
and bustle of the toiling world. He also harne.ssed her double, and taught her 
to drive on either side. She always behaved well to the pole. She does not 
like blinds to her bridle, but will trot with any kind of bit in her mouth. 
All she asks is that the driver shall not pull on the i)it. She wears a 15|- 
ounce shoe forward and a 9-ounce shoe behind. She also carries 4-ounce 
toe weights. 

After her brilliant career in 1881, Mr. Yanderbilt withdrew Maud S. from 
the track, and placed her in his own private stables in New York. 



PART II. 
Diseases of the Horse-. 

THEIR CAUSES, HOW TO PEEVENT, HOW TO KKOW 
AND HOW TO CUKE. 



Diseases of the Horse. 



THEIR CAUSES; HOW TO KNOW, AND HOW TO CURE THEM. 



CHAPTER I. 



1. INTRODUCTION. II. EXTERNAL MANIFESTATION OF DISEASE. 



I. lutroductioa. 



The various diseases to which the horse is subject, embrace nearly all 
those afflicting the human family, and including among them, as most 
common, diseases of the skin and its integuments, those of the muscles, 
of the ligaments, and of the bones, quite rare in the human family, and 
to which the horse might be completely exempt, were it not for the igno- 
rance, and in very many cases the brutality of the master in over-driving, 
over-weighting, leaping, beating, neglect in clothing when heated, care- 
lessness in grooming, want of proper ventilation in stables, and the 
withholding of proper and sufficient food. Take away these causes of 
disease and the labors of the veterinary surgeon would be light. We 
should see but little of caries of the bones, causing degeneration of the 
substance ; of spavin, curb, ringbone,, splint ; of injuries to the sinews 
and tendons, causing breaking down ; swellings and other of the most f 
serious afflictions ; poll evil and other fistulous diseases ; of fractures ; of 
rheumatism ; founder, including grease, inflamed glands and veins, cracks 
of the hoofs, quittor, hernia, and all that class of diseases attacking the 
faithful servant of man, and henceforth rendering him useless for the 
purposes of pleasure or profitable labor. Instead of ending the sufferings 
of the tortured animal by mercifully taking its life, many owners for the 
sake of the few paltry dollars received, transfer the once favorite steed 

255 



256 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



to some one else equally inhuman, who thenceforth drives and goads the 
sufferer to labor under the most torturing circumstances, until the animal 
economy, entirely disorganized, perhaps by years of such unmitigated 
torture, drops and dies. 

The object of this treatise is to so enlighten the horse owner in the 
nature of disease as to enable him to determine whether treatment can 
be made effective — if so, ivlmt to do; and especially is it the purpose to 
so acquaint him with the causes, that occasion for treatment may be 
averted. By a study of the facts we give it may be easily known whether 
cure is possible, and if not it is more merciful to kill and end the misery 
of the poor animal. 




EXTERNAL MANIFESTATIONS OP SOME DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

II. External Manifestation of Disease. 

For all the diseases we have mentioned but little medicine is needed. 
Rest and nursinij are most needed — often months of rest and care, as in 
the case of spavin, commencing in inflammation and ending in the depo- 
sition of bony matter, stiffening of the joint, or, as in the case of 
exostosis of the heads of the bones, they in time become quite anchylosed, 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 257 

■\vhen lameness ceases from the suspension of action of the joints caused 
by their complete solidification or growing together. 

That the reader maj^ form a more correct idea of what we here write, 
and have it brought plainly to view, we present an illustration of some of 
the principal diseases of the bones and tissues, caused generally by abuse, 
with a short description of their origin, llie treatment will be given in 
the proper place. 

A — Caries of (lie Jaio. Ulceration of the lower jaw, sometimes ends 
in mortification. Caused by bruises from barbarous bits and curb chains. 

B — Fistula of the Parotid Duct. Fistulas are caused by bruises or 
undue compression of the parts producing inflammation and abscess, 

C — Bony Excrescence. (Exostosis of the jaw). A blow upon a bone 
will produce inflammation followed by exostosis (bony growth through 
increased nutrition) — that of the joints being fearfullj^ painful, 

D — Swelling by pressure of the bridle, causing inflammation, and 
sometimes tumors. 

E — Poll Evil. A painful fistulous disease, often difiicult to cure. 

F — Inflamed Parotid Gland. Caused by a bruise or compression. 

G — Inflamed Jugular Vein, caused in various ways, often by careless- 
ness after bleeding. 

H — Fungus Tumor, from compression of the collar. The result of 
galls and subsequent want of care, and inattention. 

/ — Fistula of the Withers, caused generally by pressure of the saddle. 

J — Saddle Gall, caused by a bad fitting saddle ; sometimes ending in 
sitfasts. 

Ii — Tumor of the Elboiv, caused generaMy h J interierence of the sho^ 
in lying down ; sometimes by a blow. Called also, Capped Elboio. 

L — Induration of tJie Knee, caused by blows in falling. 

M — Clap of the Back Sinews, caused by severe exertion in running 
and leaping, destroying the integrity of the sinews of the leg. 

jSF — MaUenders , scurfy manifestations at flexions of the knee, sometimes 
becoming cracked and itchy. 

— Sjjlint, caused by blows, kicks, etc., on the shins. They are to 
be dreaded as interfering with the action of the sinews. 

P — Ringbone, caused by starting heavy loads, or excessive pulling in 
going u[) hill. 

Q — Tread upon the Coronet, the contusion of the shoe of one foot bv 
treading on the other, causing laceration of the coronet and of the horn 
of the hoof. 

R — Quittor, confined pus, from prick of the sole, corns, or injury to 
coronet. 



258 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

S — Quart-er Sand Crack. Imperfect secretion ctiused by dryness oi 
the hoof ; rupture of the laminae. 

T — Contracted Hoof, or ringed hoof of a foundered horse. The 
result of Laminatis. 

V—CajJjjed Hock. Injuring the point of the hock. 

Y—Sallenders. Scurfy eruptions on the seat of flexion of the hock. 
Similar to mallenders. 

W^Spavin. Inflammation causing painful bony enlargement, some- 
times stiff joint. Caused by blows, slipping and hard work, often from 
weak limbs. 

X — Curb. Inflammation and lameness of the posterior part of the 
hook, ending in bony formation. Caused by wrenching or straining the 
limb. 

Y— Swelled Sineios, caused by strains or bruises, producing inflamma- 
tion, and ending in enlargement. 

Z — Thick Leg, caused by various injuries to the joint. Any inflamma- 
tion may result in a thickening of the integuments. In all inflammatory 
difficulties of this nature, including, spavin, curb, etc., cold water 
faithfully applied at the outset will be indicated, but often the trouble is 
not known until too late for cold water. The warm water fomentations 
will then be indicated. [See treatment]. 

1 — Grease, caused by debility, excessive labor and neglect, filthy sur- 
roundings, from stoppage of the secretions. Scratches are from the 
same cause, as working in the mud without proper cleaning, etc. 

2 — Toe Sand Crack, caused by the same difficulty as quarter sand 
c.rack. 

3 — Quarter Crack. [See sand crack]. 

These are occasioned generally by severe labor of animals not strong 
in the feet, by which the walls are ruptured, by breaking the hoof with 
the calk of another foot. False quarter is occasioned by the absence ot 
the outside and harder portion of the hoof. 

4 — Ventral Hernia. Rupture by which the bowel lies next the skin. 
When hernia is acci)mpanied with strangulation it becomes dangerous. 

5 — Rat Tail, loss of the hair of the tail. 

Fuller facts as to causes and treatment of these disorders will be found 
in the appropriate place in this work. 



CHAPTER II. 



DISEASES OP THE SKIN AIO) SUB-CUTANEOUS TISSUES. 



I. SCRATCHES. 11. GREASE. III. THRUSH. IV. SWELLED ANKLES. \. 

SWELLED LEGS. VI. SURFEIT. VII. MANGE. VIII. RING-WORM. IX 

HIDE-BOUND. X. SADDLE GALLS, OR SITFASTS. XI. FUNGOUS COLLAR 

TUMOR. XII. WARTS. XIII. VERMIN. XIV. LARVA IN THE SKIN. 

XV. TETTER. XVI. RAT-TAILS. XVH. MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS. 

XVIII. POLL EVIL. XIX. FISTULA. 

Of sldii diseases there are two classes : those resultms: from neoflect 
and general bad treatment, and those due to disorders of the internal 
organs with which the skin is in sympathy, or which inflame it by unnat- 
ural excretions or irritants in the blood. It is almost impossible perfectly 
to classify them, since even some that are generally considered to arise 
from constitutional causes may be produced by external circumstances, 
and the reverse. 

In the follo^ving sections we treat the most important of both classes. 
Others of less moment will be found in our chapter entitled "Miscella- 
neous Matters and Suggestions, Minor Disorders, etc." 

I. Scratches. 

Causes. — These are various ; as, clipping the heels, which is sometimes 
done, and thus destroying nature's covering, so as to allow the parts to 
become chilled ; washing off the legs with soap and water without subse- 
quently thoroughly drying them, and then suffering them to be exposed 
to cold air ; standing in snow or snow-slush ; standing in or upon hot and 
steaming manure of any kind, while in stable ; or being long in mud and 
filth while in service and not subsequently carefully cleaned. Anything 
that will produce inflammation of the skin of the heel, or in any way 
weaken it, may produce scratches. 

As is the case with other local disorders, this is most easily and rapidly 
17 259 



260 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

developed when the horse is not in a condition of good general health ; 
but foul stables, while furnishing the irritating filth immediately to the 
seat of this disease vitiate the air also, and thus tend to brine: about a 
two-fold trouble. 

It is believed to be sometimes due to the existence on the skin of par. 
asitic plants and insects. 

The sure preventive is to keep the horse, if possible, in good general 
condition ; and to confine him, when he must be confined at all, only in a 
dry, clean, and well- ventilated stall. When he is forced to be Avorked 
during the day in mud or slush he should be neither stabled nor turned 
out to pasture until both his feet and his legs are well washed and thoroughly 
dried. 

How to know it. — Scratches are said to be unknown to European horse- 
men ; but it is so well known in the United States as to render a descrip- 
tion well nigh unnecessary. It appears on the back part of the foot, 
generally of the hind foot ; and extends from the heel to the fetlock. It 
has been known entirely to encircle the foot, and to extend upward to the 
hock and to the knee. The parts are sometimes hot, swollen and sensi- 
tive before any cracking or ulceration takes place ; then they become 
dry and scaly, and crack- open by ordinary motion. A horse thus affected 
is apt to manifest a disposition to walk stifliy, with his hind legs, (when 
the disease is seated in the hind heels), 'wdder apart than ordinary, and to 
throw his foot rather violently forward when an effort is made to exam- 
ine it. 

It IS often the case that at first there are little patches of a thick, dry, 
scabby covering of the skin ; and these spread and inflame until they form 
a solid mass of scab and matted hair. These scabs may be distinguished 
from those which sometimes appear in other skin diseases by this, that 
they have an unusual itchiness, which leads the horse to rub them as 
much as possible ; and he often does this until they bleed and become 
raw. This disposition of the suffering creature to scratch himself is said 
to have originated the name by which the disease is kno^^ai. 

What to do. — In cases where the patient is in good condition, and the 
disease is in its incipient stage, a thorough cleansing of the parts with 
castile soap and warm water, and applying an emollient or softening 
poultice for a day or two, with rest, will be sufficient. If there seem* 
to be feverishness of the system, a dose or two of Epsom salts to move 
the bowels, given in doses of from one to three ounces at a time, well be 
beneficial. 

The following is for ordinary cases a most efficacious and easily used 
remedy ; 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 261 

No. 1. % Oz, powdered gum camphor, 

1 Oz. gum myrrli, 
1 Fluid oz. sulphuric acid, 
1 Fluid oz. spirits of turpentine, 
1 Pint of lard. 

IVIix thoroughly, and rub the ointment well upon the heels once a day.i 
The legs and feet should be washed with soap suds before every appliciv^ 
tion. 

When the disease is chronic, and proud flesh has appeared, make a 
l)()ultice of ground flax seed and lime-water ; sprinkle burnt alum over 
the poultice, and apply. Use two or three poultices a day until the 
l)roud flesh has evidently disappeared, then use the ointment No. 1 as 
above directed. 

Another course of treatment, to be adopted when there is a disordered 
condition of general health, and evidences of vitiated blood are man- 
ifested, is this : 

First bleed ; but observe to regulate the quantity of blood drawn by 
the condition of the animal as to flesh and strength. If he is poor and 
weak, take from the neck vein about three pints, and after, nine days a 
like quantity. If he is plainly in poor general health, but not reduced 
in flesh and still strong, bleed once, taldng from the neck vein three 
quarts. Then make careful and thorough application of ointment No. 1. 

It ma}^ well be stated here that in our practice we do not often resort 
to bleeding, nor do Ave reconnnend it except in rare cases. To the man, 
however, who flnds it both protitable and agreeable to be his own stock 
doctor it is often the ({uickest, easiest, and safest means of removing 
vitrious humors, and bringing a])out a more natural and healthful circula- 
tion. In some acute diseases of violent character, as ]ileurisy, mad 
staggers, and the like, it is frequently of the first importance, sometimcK 
almost the only hope ; but we would caution the reader against t\n) 
indiscriminate blood-letting of the old practitioners. 01)serve well the 
symptoms; consult this department of " The Stock Doctor" carefully : 
and you AAdll not fnll into the mistake of taking away gallons of blood 
when a little rest, some good grooming, and plenty of nutritious, life- 
gi^ang food, are the things mostly required. The manner of blood-letting 
will be found to have been treated of in our chapter entitled "Imple-' 
ments : what to keep and how to use." 

The foregoing methods will answer in nil ordinary cases ; but if the 
patient has not been taken in hand till the disease has become chronic 
and obstinate, the following is a most excellent preparation and may bo 
used instead of No. 1. It requires care in the using, as it will discolor 
the hands and corrode the nails if it comes in contact with them, and it 
■should never be entrusted to bungling and inconsiderate grooms ; but in 



2(52 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR, 

the hands of careful horsemen it is a most valuable remedy for all obsti- 
nate wounds, bruises, galls, tumors, and sores. We shall refer to it in 
subsequent portions of the work as camphorated corrosive sublimate or 

No. 2. 1 Pint spirits of turpentine, 

1 Oz, linely pulverized corrosiAe sublimate, 
1 Oz. gum camplior. 

Have the corrosive sublimate ver}^ finely ground in a druggist's mortar, 
(the efficacy of the compound depends much upon this) ; pulverize the 
o-um camphor ; put all together hito a good strong bottle, and shake 
thoroughly. Then let it stand for at least twenty-four hours — ^longer 
would be better, as it becomes more and more valuable with age and 
repeated shakings — and it will do to use. In applying it, saturate a small 
mop, made of soft rags, neatly and firmly tied upon a stick. Wash 
before making first application of No. 2, but aftenvards, unless the foot 
becomes very foul, this need not be done. The liniment should be 
a])plied once a day till cure is effected. 

Keep the horse out of the wet during treatment, especially if the cam- 
phorated corrosive sublimate is used. See to it, also, that his stable is 
not only dry, but airy. If it is pasture time, he will need no other food 
than o-rass, unless it is found nece-ssarv to stable him, to keep him from 
rains and dews. In any event, he ought to be fed rather lightly at first, 
aiid w-ith food not calculated to inflame. If the time is Winter give as 
much green, soft food as can be conveniently had, such as roots, 
('/hops, etc. 

II. Grease, or Cracked Heels. 

Causes. — This disease is but a modification of scratches and of thnish 
^—partaking more of the nature of thrush, however, than of scratches, as 
it is confined almost exclusively to the heel, the seat of the thrush, which 
is seldom attacked l)y the scratches. 

It is occasionally the result of constitutional weakness or derangement. 
When the system abounds in morbid matter, its tendency is towards the 
heels, and debility is felt in the distended vessels remote from the vital 
organs, ending in inflammation of the skin of the heels, distension of the 
sebaceous glands, a stinking deposit on the surface, and a purulent dis- 
charge through cracks. 

Cutting away the hair of the fetlock, and thus exijosing to sudden and 
protracted cold the parts which it is designed to protect, often causes thi-. 
affection, even in animals of otherwise good condition. 

Frequently, however, it may be regarded as most probalily a secondary 
disease, originating in some other, which has resulted from careless or 
ahuman treatment, or from constitutional weakness. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 



263 



It is not contagious ; but filth and want of attention will produce it in 
nearly all horses similarly subjected to their influences. 

How to know it. — It manifests nearly the very same symptoms as 
thrush, as giv en in the following section ; but there is one striking pecu- 
liarity which distinguishes it from thrush, foot-evil, and other disorders 
of that kind — the heel cracks open. In a healthy state, the heel of the 
horse is moistened, and so kept from becoming dry and hard, by a con- 
stant secretion and discharge of an oily fluid from the cellular tissues 
under the skin. When this is obstructed, the skin becomes dry and 
feverish, and looks scurfy and hot. It soon thereafter cracks, and the 
pent-up oily secretion, now turned to a foul, yellowish water, flows out. 
As the flow of rtiatter increases, it becomes more and more thick, stickey, 
and stinking ; and if not attended to, the heel and sides of the foot 
become a mass of ulcerated excrescenses. 

It sometimes manifests itself by the oozing 
out of a thin matter through the pores of the 
skin from some deep-seated disease of either the 
coflBn-bone or the navicular joint — most fre- 
quently the latter. The more effective treatment 
in this case would of course be that directed to 
the healing of the primary disorder. 

What to do. — The treatment necessary is sim- 
ilar to that for scratches. In the first place, see 
to it that the causes which have induced it shall 
no longer operate. If the disease is secondary, it 
must be somewhat difficult to manage ; and the ani- 
mal should be allowed to rest, taking only such ex- 
ercise as nature prompts, in an open pasture, ex- 
cept in bad weather. When it is necessary to con- 
fine him, give him a good stable, dry litter, and 
pure air. Remember that rest is one of the first 
conditions of success ; while constant driving or any 
other labor will most probably defeat the ends of the 
physician. 

If the disease is discovered in its early stage, and 
the general health of the animal has not suffered, 
cleanse the parts well with tepid water and 

castile soap, and make occasional applications of No. 2, or the camphor- 
ated corrosive sublimate, say once a day, till a cure is effected. A few 
applications will generally be found sufficient. 

If the horse is thin in flesh, and in a Ioav state of health from the 
effects of this disease, mix sulphur and rosin, in the proportion of two 




First Stagh of Confibm'ed 

GRKASE EXLTDATIOX. 




Second Stage of Con- 
firmed Grease CRAeiiBo 



264 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

[)arts of the former to one of the hitter, and give him a quarter of a 
pound of this every third day until he has taken three or four do^es. 
Meanwhile, thoroughly saturate the parts at least every other day with 
No. 2 till the disease is thoroughly conquered. 

If the liniment forms a seal) upon the heel, so hard and dry that the 
remedial effects seem to cease, omit the liniment for several days and 
keep the heel well greased. The scab will come off, and then the appli- 
cation of the liniment, (No. 2), may be resumed. This course must bo 
persevered in till a cure is effected. 

The liniment should be applied at night ; and the horse should not be 
turned into pasture when the grass is wet with dew or rain — at any rate, 
not till six hours after the application has been made. 

In Summer, pasturage will in general afford sufficient food ; but in 
Winter it should be more nourishing, yet green and succulent as far as 
possible. Roots and good bran mashes ought to be given in reasonable 
quantity. Grain, as a regular diet in this case, is objectionable, on 
account of its tendency to produce inflammation. 

After throe doses of the sulphur and rosin have been given, as directed, 
the following mixture, given every night until all traces of the active 
disease have disappeared, will be found an excellent tonic or strengthen- 
ing medicine, and having the effect, too, of giving healthy tone to the 

skin : 

No. 3. K Oz. liquor of arsenicalis, 

1 Oz. tincture of muriate of iron, 
yi Pint of water. 

This constitutes a dose. Mix and give as a drench. 
When it is difficult to procure No. 2, the following may l)o prepared 
and substituted therefor : 

No. 4. 8 Oz. tar, 

1 Oz. beeswax, 

1 Oz. rosin, 

1 Oz. alum, 

1 Oz. tallow, 

1 Oz. sulphate of iron, 

1 Drachm carbolic acid. 

Mix, and boil over a slow fire, stirring as long as dirty scum appears, 
and then add 2 oz. of the scrapings of sweet elder. 

III. Thrush. 

Causes. — This, like scratches, results for the most part from foul 
stables, — the horses being forced to stand in mortar of dung and urine, — 
or from working in muddy and filthy places, without having his feet and 
1 02:8 well cleansed when he is unharnessed for the night. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 265 

It is sometimes caused by injuries to the frog of the foot, as bruising, 
snagging, and improper slioeing. 

It may arise also from a gross habit of body, producing inflammation 
of tiie sensitive frog, when a spongy suljstance is deposited instead of 
sound horn ; and this breaks away and leaves the frog ragged and tender. 

Again, it may come from too frequently stopping soft frogs with cow 
dung, as is the practice of some grooms, thus encouraging rather than 
curing decomposition . 

Lastl}^ it may be secondary, havmg resulted from other diseases, 
superinduced by want of cleanliness and care. 

How to Know It. — In some cases, the only means of detecting the 
existence of thrush is a peculiar smell, or by very careful examination, 
as the hoof may show no change, and the frog may not be tender. In 
this case the cleft of the frog will generally 1)C found lengthened and 
deepened, the opening extending to the sensitive horn within, and this, 
when thus closely observed, shows discharge of matter. 

The progress of the disease is often slow, though showing mean^^hile 
no disposition to heal ; till after awhile the frog begins to contract, 
becomes tender, grows rough and brittle, and emits a more offensive 
discharge. The horny part disappears, and a hardened substance takes 
its place ; this easily scales off and leaves the sensitive frog uncovered. 

In its advanced state, it is very easih' detected, as it is characterized 
by a continuous discharge of offensive matter from the cleft of the frog. 
If not reasonably attended to, proud flesh sprouts up ; and as this spreads 
the whole foot becomes involved in canker. 

What to do. — In the first place, if the causes which have produced the 
disease arc still in operation, remove these. In any case, when the horse 
is to be stabled, use dry litter, and see that the stall is kept clear of 
moist excrement, and that it is well -ventilated. 

If the disease is secondary, the treatment must of course be directed 
to removing the affection from which it has sprung. 

In its simple stages, it may be easily cured in the following manner: 

Clean well with soap suds, and allow to diy. Then, wet a piece of 
cloth or string of tow witli the liniment No. 2, and press it into the cleft 
of the frog and the corresponding part of the heel. Remove the tow 
next morning. Continue this treatment, (putting in the saturated tow at 
evening), for four days; then omit a day; and so on until a cure is 
( ifected. 

Or, sprinkle a small quantity of blue Adtriol in the cleft of the frog. 
Mid then fill up the cavities with cotton, which so press in as to keep out 
;i!l dirt. Repeat until the foot is cured. 



266 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

When it has arisen from grossness and inflammation, rather than from 
filth or other local cause, give a dose of Epsom salts, from six to eight 
ounces, according to degree of inflammation ; use less stimulating food, 
and o'ive him regular, hut not too severe exercise every day. The local 
application must not be of a stimulating character. Put the foot in a 
bran poultice, and let it remain for some days, till the inflammation is 
reduced. Be careful, however, not to use the poultice too much, as 
undue softening is injurious. Then dress the frog with tar ointment, (a 
mixture of equal parts of tar and grease). If the frog is found not to 
harden by the application of the tar ointment, moisten it occasionally 
with a solution of 10 grs. of blue-stone to 1 oz. of water; or, (which is 
a somewhat more powerful medicine), 5 grs. of chloride of zinc to 1 oz. 
of water. 

When the disease has become chronic, it is hard to effect a cure, and 
the following course ought to be adopted : Clean away all the ragged 
portions of horn, so as to reach the sensitive parts. Then smear some 
tow with this ointment. 

jTo. 5. 1 Drachm ointment of nitrate of mercury, 

1 Oz. zinc ointment, 
4 Drops creosote. 

Mix well ; and having smeared the tow with the preparation, as directed, 
press it into the cleft of the foot and retain it there by a bar shoe, slightly 
tacked on. Apply this every day, observing its effects. If found not 
to do well, try a wash made of six grains of sulphate of zinc, dissolved 
in one ounce of water. As the frog grows, it should be kept suj)ple 
with tar ointment. The bar shoe should be kept on until the frog is 
fully developed. Some degree of pressure must be employed by means 
of tow, and this pressure should be increased as the horn increases in 
substance. When proud flesh is obstinate it may be burnt away at once 
l)y forcing a stick of nitrate of silver (lunar caustic,) into it. 

In chronic cases, the horse should have, once a day, in his food, an 
alterative dose, (a mild improver of health), say a table-spoonful of 
sulphur and powdered sassafras, of each an equal quantity. 

The followino; mixture is sometimes found valuable when there is a 
tendency to proud flesh. The ingredients are to be well stirred together 
and sprinkled into the cleft of the frog, where it must be confined iu the. 
tiame manner as directed for powdered blue vitriol alone : 

No. 6. 1 Oz powdered blue vitriol, 

1 Oz. copperas, 

2 Oz. burnt alum, 
1-2 Oz. white vitriol. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 267 

IV. Swelled Ankles. 

Causes. — This affection invariably arises from a diseased condition of 
the feet. Its origin may sometimes be traced to diseases of the navicuhir 
and lower pastern joints ; but it is known to proceed for the most part 
from hoof rot. It seems occasionally, liowever, to result from a 
plethoric condition of the general system, a superabundance of blood, 
hard work, severe strains, etc., etc. 

How to Know It. — Confined almost w^iolly to the ankle joints, it is not 
difficult of detection — the only point of importance being to determine 
whether the swelling is merely spasmodic and temporary, or whether it 
is the result of a primary disorder which requires attention. It is 
generall}^ perceptible of a morning, and disappears during the day, 
because exercise restores healthful action ; but when there is really a 
diseased condition of the bottom of the foot, the fever caused thereb}^ 
inflames the membrane of the joint, under the sldn, while the horse is 
inactive, and the swelling again takes place. If the ankles present a 
swollen appearance from morning to morning, attention should be 
directed to discover the real condition of . the foot ; and appropriate 
treatment must be resorted to before the disease takes the chronic and 
more advanced form of swelled legs, cracked heels, or scratches. 

What to do. — If the swelling proceeds from plethora, or too grea 
fulness of the general system, give an occasional dose of Epsom salts, to 
reduce the tendency to inflammation ; and feed upon green and succu- 
lent food. 

If it proceeds from soreness of the l)ottom of the foot, apply No. 2 
freely every day for four days ; then omit for two days, and apply again. 
If there is any appearance of thrush or cracked heels, treat as directed 
for the removal of these. 

V. Swelled Legs. 

Causes. — Swelled legs may ])e the result cither of an undue deposit of 
serum or watery particles of the blood, or of inflammation of the cellular 
tissue lyino; between the skin and bones in those parts of the leo- most 
destitute of muscles. 

A poor condition of the blood, or feebleness from great loss of it, may 
cause the legs to swell, since the fluids conveyed to the extremities bv 
the capillaries accumulate there, because, in the absence of muscuhir 
activity, the veins have no power to return them. Diseased kidneys 
have a tendency to produce this disorder of the legs. 

The inflammatory type may result from blows upon the lower leg ; 
horn concussion ; or, in general, from anything that may arrest the 



268 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK EOCTOK. 



action of the cellular tissue referred to, causing it to become dry and at 
leno-th acutely inflamed. It may also arise from the shifting of inflam- 
mation from other parts, as from the lungs, Iddneys, etc. 

Horses of coarse fiber and full habit, accustomed to exercise, if allowed 
to stand idle several days, will have swelled legs from the accumulation 
of watery fluid ; and, if unattended to, the parts may soon be attacked 
l)y inflammation, when the tissues become involved, and the disease 
assumes its more serious type. 

It is occasionally a mere extension of the effects of cracked heels, with 
its primary cause resting in whatever may have produced the primary 
disorder. 

How to know It. — The leg becomes greatly swollen, and looks as 
though it was stretched to its utmost tension. Occasionally, the swell- 
ing appears almost suddenly, and then as suddenly subsides, in which 
case the cause may be considered as having but just begun to operate ; 
and if now treated, it is easily managed. Again, it is sometimes sudden 
in its attack, and violent ; the sldn is hot, dry, and extremely tender, 
and the pulse is quick and hard, while a peculiar lameness speedily sets 
in The swelling may extend to the sheath and along the belly, as far as 
the muscles of the breast. 

In the more advanced stage of the disease small cracks appear in the 
skm , and from these exudes a watery matter, of whitish-yellow color, 
similar to that which is seen in cracked heels. In this case it must be 
taken for granted that no treatment, however skilfull, can speedily 
remove it ; that the improvement must be slow, and consequently much 
time required. 

What to do. — If the disease seems to be merely undue deposit of 
serum, owing to confinement, nothing more may be necessary than to 
give the animal a dose or two of niter, daily, to act upon the kidneys ; 
and to exercise him regularly, to induce absorption. In the adminis- 
tering of a diuretic, however, even so simple as niter, care should be 
taken that it is not left to ignorant and irresponsible grooms, since it 
may be given in excess, and result in disordering the kidneys, and thus 
ultimately inducing the very disease which it is intended to remedy. 

When there is a tendency to swelled legs which manifests itself in the 
morning, but disappears during the exercise of the day, an excellent pre- 
ventive is to stand the horse in cold water to his knees, half an hour, 
just before night, and then rub dry before stabling ; but care must be 
taken to dry the legs thoroughly, or the plan is plainly objectionable. If 
it should be found not to yield to this, administer the niter in modera- 
tion, as previously directed, and exercise the horse regularly, causing him 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 269 

to sweat, both of which have a tendency to diminish the accumulated fluid, 
and to assist the veins and absorbents in their functions. 

In case the horse is in a debilitated condition, and the SAvelling is mani- 
festly owing to the sluggishness of the circulation, he should be well fed, 
on nutritious diet, and the leg or legs should be firmly, but not tightly, 
bandaged. Then prepare the following — a tonic and somewhat stimulat- 
uig medicine : 

No. 7. % Oz. pulverized assafoetida, 

1 Oz. cream of tartar, 

2 Oz. powdered gentian, 
2 Oz. African ginger, 

4 Oz. tinely pulverized poplar bark. 

Rub these ingi'edients together in a mortar until thoroughly mixed. 
Divide this into six doses, and give one, in the food, every night till 
exhausted. The bandage should be removed from time to time, and the 
limb subjected to a brisk hand-rubbing, or rubbing with a medium 
coarse cloth. 

If the disease has become chronic, and the animal is much debilitated, 
the following more stimulating medicine should be used. 

No. 8. 1 Oz. powdered golden seal, 

1 Oz. gentian, 

1 Oz. balmony, for snakehead), 
yi Lb. flax seed. 

Mix well ; and divide into six doses, of which give one night and 

morning in the food. Bandage and rub alternately, as previously 

directed. If the disease does not speedily show signs of yielding to this 

treatment, apply, every night, omitting the bandage, the followiiig 

liniment : 

No. 9. 2 Oz; essence of cedar, 

1 Oz. tincture of capsicum, 
1 pint new rum. 

When cracking of the skin has taken place, so that matter exudes, and 
there is much fever, the following course has been found eminently suc- 
cessful, and must be at once adopted : First, take from the neck vein 
three quarts of blood. Mix finely pulverized sulphur and rosin, in the 
proportion of two parts of the former to one of the latter ; and give 
daily, for three or four days, six ounces of this mixture. It should 1)0 
put into meal or bran, and the horse should be allowed no other food 
until he readily takes this. Meanwhile, apply No. 2 every morning to 
the parts most evidently affected, until the swelling has entirely subsided. 

In these chronic cases, it is best not to feed on very nutritious, or at 



270 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. n 

least, stimulating food, unless the horse is in low general condition. 
Ordinarily, pasturing will be best, when the season admits of it. If it 
does not, he should have light, moist diet; and his stable should be 
clean, dry, roomy, and so supplied with litter as to induce him to lie 
down as much as possible. 

VI. Surfeit. 

Causes. — This disease, sometimes known as prurigo, has for its pre- 
disposing cause a thick and impure state of the blood, with deranged 
condition of the digestive organs. When the animal is in such case, any 
sudden exposure to chill, especially when he has been heated, will pro- 
duce surfeit-pimples ; and unless the general condition be attended to, 
a confirmed case of skin disease may be the result. 

It generally appears in the Spring, at the time of shedding, when the 
skin is more exposed than at any other time of year, and the horse is 
still exposed to sudden spells of cold and wet weather. The skin, thus 
bare, is easily affected ; and if the chill is severe or too frequently 
repeated, inflammation sets in, and the cuticle or outer skin becomes 
hard and dry because the pores are so closed as to retain the oily secre- 
tions necessary to moisten the surface. 

Some poisonous herbs produce this, or a similar, eruption of the skin, 
and musty hay has been known to have a like effect. 

Quick surfeit, or that which arises suddenly, even in animals in good 
general condition, upon being overheated and suddenly cooled by chill 
air or an over-draught of water, may disappear ui>on his being brouglit 
to a sweat by exercise ; but that which is contracted while the horse is in 
general ill condition is apt to become confirmed, and, unless timely atten- 
tion is bestowed, may settle on the lungs and cause serious trouble. 

How to know it. — No symptoms precede an attack of surfeit by whicli 
its approach may be known. The pimples or lumps, in quick surfeit, 
suddenly appear, and almost as quickly subside. When a case of con- 
firmed surfeit has set in, the skin is hard, dry, and feverish ; and pimples 
appear, sometimes confined to the neck, but more frequently spread over 
the sides, back, loins, and quarters. Occasionally, these are attended 
with oreat itching, while aoain thev seein to cause no annovance. When 
they have remained a few daj^s, they discharge, in small quantities, a thin, 
whitish, oily matter. Small, scabby excrescences, formed by the dis- 
charging sores, cover the parts. These come off, taking the hair with 
them, and leaving a small scaly spot — sometimes, though rarely, a sore. 

Surfeit is sometimes mistaken for button-farcy ; but it may be distin- 
guished from this by the shape of the pimples : in surfeit these are 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 



271 



elevated in the center ; whereas, in farcy the lumps are rather flat on 
top and have thick edges, like a button in the skin. Farcy buds generally 




A HoRSK Affected with Surfeit. 



appear on the inside of the thighs and fore legs, while surfeit pimples 
are seldom found in these places. 

If not promptly and properly attended to, surfeit is likely to degen- 
erate into mange, which it is sometimes taken to be, even in its early 
stages ; but it may be known from mange by trying the short hairs at 
the roots of the mane : if it is mange, they will be loose and come out , 
but if surfeit, they will show their natural condition. 

What to do. — If the general condition of the horse is good, and the 
affection has evidently arisen from sudden exposure or some other 
imprudence on the part of the person having him in charge, little 
treatment ^nll be necessary. Prevent costiveness and keep down fever 
b}^ cooling food, such as bran mashes, roots, and other moist provender. 
Give arsenical drink once a day, a pint at a time, to act on the skin, until 
cure is eifected, being careful, meanwhile, if the weather is cool, to keep 
the horse comfortably warm — blanketing him if necessary; and a half 
hour's walkino; exercise should be iriven him daily. The arsenical drink 
consists of these ingredients in the proportions named : 



No. 10. 



1 Fluid oz. arsenicalis, or Fowler's solution, 
1 ^A Fluid oz. tincture of muriate of iron, 
1 Quart water. 



If the disease has sprung from a thick and impure state of the blood, 
disordered digestive organs, and general ill condition, take from the. 



272 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

neck vein from three to five quarts of blood, according to strength, 
extent of eruption and degree of fever. Keep him from becoming 
costive by cooling and laxative food, as previously directed ; see that he 
is comfortably stabled, if the weather is at all inclement, and givG, on 
several successive nights, the following alterative : 

No. 11. 2 Drachms levigated (finely ground) antimony, 

3 Drachms niter, 

4 Drachms sulphur. 

The food should be good — if possible, gi'een and succulent; and it 
will be found advantageous to take the chill from water given him, if the 
weather is at all cold. If the appetite is bad, place gruel in the manger, 
so that he may use it instead of Avater till stronger food is relished. 

If it is Summer, or Spring is sufficiently advanced to be mild, he may 
be turned to pasture ; but in any event, he should be allowed to rest 
during treatment. 

In the more confirmed cases a speedy cure is not to be expected ; but 
good food, not of a nature to induce costiveness and inflammation, and 
proper care as to warmth and cleanliness, together with a proper use of 
No. 11, will bring the patient round in time. 

In very obstinate cases, occasionally anoint those parts where the 
lumps appear with a mixture of sulphur and lard, in equal proportions. 

VII. Mange. 

Causes. — This is sometimes brought about by the same causes as 
surfeit ; or rather, it is indeed but an advanced or chronic stage of that 
disease ; though in some cases of the same kind, it is of a much more 
serious character in itself, and highly contagious. 

When not a mere secondary stage of neglected surfeit, its immediate 
cause is a parasite — the acarus — bred in the skin of the animal when 
subjected to dirt and filth, and debilitated by hard living and ill usage, 
or by total neglect and lack of food. The acarus produces mange in the 
horse in the same manner as the human parasite produces itch in man ; 
but it is of a different species, and frequently so large as to be visible 
to the naked eye. 

Neglect, starvation, and accumulated filth having induced a depraved 
state of the digestive apparatus, with which the skin sympathises, and 
the insect once having obtained a lodgment, the horse, unless promptly 
taken in hand, soon becomes a loathsome object, and dies. 

The disease once contracted in this way, may be communicated to even 
sound animals, in good condition ; in fact, the great majority of cases 
are thus contracted, as comparatively few animals are so utterly neglected 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 273 

or eXj^osed U filth}^ influences as to become in themselves the generators 
of these maivge-breeding insects. It is regarded as one of the most 
contagious diseases to wliich the horse is subject, and may be imparted 
not only to other horses, but to cattle, hogs, and dogs, though it is 
asserted by good authority that none of these can in turn communicate it 
to the horse. 

The curry-comb, brush, collar, or blanket Avhich has been used on a 
mangy horse will produce the infection in another ; and to lie in the same 
stall or to rub where a mangy horse has rubbed himself is almost certain 
to communicate it unless the animal so exposed is exceedingly healthful 
and in active condition of body. 

How to Know It. — The skin is at first scal)by, the hair comes off, and 
the outer skin becomes broken into little scale-like pieces. These fall 
off, or are rubbed off, and leave the parts raw and sore. The general 
appearance of the skin where the raw spots are not too numerous is a 
dirty brown, and it is loose, flabby and puckered. The horse is impelled 
by itching to rub himself frequently and violently, and he thus leaves his 
scurf, dandruff, and in the more advanced stage, his parasites, at every 
place. 

Usually, where the disease is engendered in the animal itself, it appears 
first on the side of the neck, just at the edges of the mane, and on the 
inside of the quarters near the root of the tail. From these parts the 
eruption extends along the back and down the sides, seldom involving the 
extremities, except in the very worst cases. Sometimes, though rarely 
the ears and eye-brows are attacked and left bare. 

When it is the result of contagion, the horse may at first be in health ; 
but the constant irritation makes him feverish, the hair falls off as in thf> 
first case described, leaving the skin in those places almost bare ; and 
little red pimples appear here and there. Each of these contains a 
parasite, and the pimples are connected by furrows along which the 
parasites have worked their way. In time they increase in number and 
size, and from them exudes a matter which hardens into a scab. Under 
these scabs the parasites may be found, upon removing them and care- 
fully examining in the sunlight. 

In the early stage of the disease, where it may be suspected, but is not 
vet fully manifest, it may be detected by placing the fingers among the 
roots of the mane and tickling the skin with the nails. The horse is so 
sensitive to titillation when in this condition that he will thereupon stretch 
out his neck and evince the most unmistakable pleasure as long as the 
tickling continues. 

What to do. — The most effectual preventive, it will be readily inferred 



274 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

from the preceding statement of causes, is cleanliness. In no case 
should a healthy animal be allowed to occupy a stable where a mangy 
one has been kept until it shall have previously been washed with water 
strongly impregnated with sulphur and chloride of lime — say half a 
pound of powdered sulphur and one pint of chloride of lime to each 
gallon of water. If the stable is thoroughly cleansed of loose litter and 
dirt, and all parts that may have been rulibed against by a mangy horse 
))erfectly saturated with this solution two or three times, on as many 
consecutive days, there ciui be no danger in using it. Clothing, curry- 
comb, brush, etc., that may have come in contact with such animal, 
should be burned up. 

If starvation, weakness, and general ill condition have caused the 
mange, a patent means for its removal will be found in giving him clean 
quarters and good nourishing food ; which, however, should not be at 
first of a heating nature. Generous pasturage, unless the weather is 
damp, will be sufficient; otherwise, a full supply of oats and chop food 
should be given. It cannot be too much insisted upon that especially 
while treating a horse for disease his stable should be dry, well ventilated 
and properly supplied with litter. 

In cases of full habit of body, where the disease is the result of 
contact, and the presence of high fever is noted, bleed once, taking from 
the neck vein from three to five quarts, according to the condition of the 
animal and the degree of fever ; but if it is the result of poverty and 
debility, do not bleed at all. 

Next, have him as thoroughly cleansed of scab and dirt as possible, with 
a wisp of hay, and by softly and lightly using a curry-comb. Then 
l)repare a liniment of the following ingredients and in the proportions 
here given for greater or less quantities ; 

No. 12. 1 Quart animal glycerine, 

1 Gill creosote. 
>^ Pint turpentine, 
1 Gill oil of juniper. 

Mix all together and shake well ; and with this saturate the whole skin, 
as nearly as possible, rubbing in well with a soft cloth. Care must be 
taken to rub it in thoroughly. A little well rubbed in is better than 
much merely smeared on. 

Leave him in this condition two days ; then wash him well with warm 
water and soft soap ; stand him in the sunshine if the weather admits, 
and rub with a wisp of hay or with suitable cloths until he is dry ; after 
which, anoint him pretty well all over with the mixture described. No. 
12, and i-ub it in. This course should be pursued until a cure is effected. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 275 

Two to four applications will generally be found sufficient, even in 
obstinate cases, if care is taken as to food and drink. The following 
alterative will be found beneficial : 

No. 13. 1 Oz. tartarized antimony, 

2 Drs. niuriato of quick .silver, 

3 Oz. poAvdered yinger. 

3 Oz. powdered anise seeds. 

Mix with mucilage so as to form a consistent mass ; divide into six 
balls, and give one every morning till the eruption disappears. 

Care must be taken that the patient is not exposed to rain or heavy 
dews while under this course of treatment. 

Vm. Ringworm. 

Causes. — ^There are two kinds of ringworm ; one simple, of sponta- 
neous origin, and non-contagious. The other contagious. The first 
is usually the result of indigestion or confinement in close and foul 
apartments, as in filthy and ill-aired stables, railroad cars or ship holds. 
The latter, or contagous kind, is found on horses of good condition^ as 
well as on diseased and neglected ones, and is produced by vegetable 
parasites in the hairs and hair-glands. 

How to know it — it is especially common in Winter and Spring, and 
appears on the face, neck, shoulders, sides, and sometimes elsewhere. 

When non-contagious, it may usually be known by its appearing as an 
eruption of small blisters, about the size of a wheat grain, on inflamed 
patches of skin. These assume a circular form ; and if not seasonably 
attended to, the circle enlarges and covers fresh portions of skin. 

The contag-ious t^^DC appears in round, bald spots, covered with white 
scales, and surrounded hy a ring of bristly, broken, or split hairs, with 
scabs around the roots, and some eruption on the skin. These broken 
hairs soon drop out, and a wider ring is formed. The most marked 
characteristic of the contagious or parasitical ringworm is the splitting of 
the hairs in the ring, and the perfect baldness of the central part. 

Occasionally the patches, in either form of the disease, assume an 
irregular rather than a really circular form. 

Any attack of this sort is usually marked also by the horse's rubbing 
and scratching himself against the sides of his stable, or convenient 
objects outside ; but this is not to be depended upon as a marked S3^mp- 
tom, since it likeA\ase indicates surfeit and mange. 

What to do — If a simple, non-contagious case, shave the hairs as 
closely as possible from the affected part, and paint with tincture of 
iodine ; or, if scratches or little ulcers have appeared on the patch, rub it 
with the following stimulating and healing ointment : 
18 



276 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 14. 10 Grains nitrate of silver, 

1 Oz. lard. 

If it is a case of the contagious or scaly variety, wash the patches 
thoroughly with soft water and soft soap, and then rub every day with 
the following ointment : 

No. 15. K Drachm iodine, 

1 Drachm iodide of potash, 

1 Oz. cosmoliue. 

If throuo;h neoflect and long standing it has ulcerated, use lihis ointment 
twice daily : 

No. 16. 6 Oz. pyroligneous acid, 

5 Oz. linseed oil, 

2 Oz. spirits of camphor. 

If it has become obstinate — not yielding to the foregoing treatment — 
apply a blister directly over the patch, and then treat as for a common 
sore, using some simple ointment. 

If there are signs of constipation and fever, care must be taken to keep 
the bowels open and regular, and to avoid stinmlating grain food. A 
seasonable supply of cut grass and sliced potatoes, or of carrots, if they 
can be obtained, should be allowed. If in Spring and Summer, and the 
horse is not in active use, put him to pasture for a few days. 

When the horse shows a tendency to weakness, as is sometimes the 
case with young animals, and with those suffering from neglect, give 
good nutritious food, and tonic medicine in moderation. 

To prevent spreading the contagious form, clean the stable where a 
horse so afflicted has stood, and white-wash its interior thoroughly. 
Wash the harness, collars, and whatever elsev may have covered the ring- 
worm, with strong soap and water, and rub them over with a solution of 
corrosive sublimate, (one drachm to a pint of water.) If the horse has 
been blanketed while suffering with the disease, the blanket should be 
well boiled. 

IX. Hide-bound. 

Causes — Strictly speaking, this is not of itself a disease, though the 
skin is in a peculiarly abnormal condition, but the result of a diseased 
condition of the general system or of derangement of some specific vital 
function. With respect to the causes from which it arises, it is some- 
what similar to mange ; l)ut, unlike mange, it is neither eruptive nor 
contagious. 

Poverty and cruel usage — the food being deficient in quantity or 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 



277 




O.vE OF THE Causes of Hide-bound in Horses. 

quality, and the lubor onerous — ^bring on impaired digestion ; the blood 
becomes thick, dark, and feverish, because the secretive processes are 
sluggishly performed ; the skin sympathizes with these internal disorders, 
and the lubricating fluid through the pores is suspended ; and then, 
instead of remaining soft and pliant, it becomes dry and adheres to the 
body. A disordered state of the stomach, bowels, and urinary and 
respiratory organs may be considered as having produced it when no 
specific form of disease can be discovered as existing ; but it is an almost 
invariable accompaniment, in a greater or less degree of intensity, of big 
head, glanders, grease, farcy, founder, distemper, bad cases of swinney, 
big shoulder, lock-jaw, consumption, and chronic dysentery. The fevei" 
in these dries up the watery secretions and shrinks the hide. 

Formerly it was supposed to be caused by worms in the stomach and 
alimentary canal ; but this is erroneous. Worms may of course exist 
while the horse is in this state, but they are rather a consequence than a 
cause — ^the result of imperfect digestion and excretion. The skin, as 
has been elscAvhere stated, sympathizes readily with the vital internal 
organs, and in all obscure cases hide-bound should be considered a 
symptom of disorder in these, and treated accordingly. 

How to know it — The skin is dry and hard, and the hair is rough and 
rusty. Both are evidenth' destitute of tli^it oil by which in health they 
are kept in soft, pliant, and glossy condition. Adhering almost immov- 
ably to the ribs, legs, neck — almost every part of the l)ody — the skm 
fannot be caught up in folds with the hand. At times it appears scurfy, 
and the exhalants, (having the quality of giving out or evaporating), pour 



278 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

forth unusual quantities of matter, the more solid portions of whicli 
form scales and give the horse a filthy appearance. 
The excrement or dung is dry, hard, and black. 

What to do — Especial pains must be taken to discover, if possible, 
Avhat specific disease has given rise to this state of the skin. If the 
cause is obscure, direct the treatment to restoring a healthy condition of 
the digestive organs. Begin by bettering his treatment in every wa}^ 
Instead of hard labor, he should have only gentle exercise, and instead of 
being left exposed to the rain, snow, and merciless winds, in barren pas- 
ture land or filthy barnyard, he should be well sheltered, and, in Winter, 
blanketed — using for this purpose two blankets joined along his back by 
tapes so that a space of an inch or two may be left for the escape of 
insensible perspiration. Instead of allowing the skin to grow clogged, 
torpid, and dead for want of cleanliness and friction, he should have 
regular daily currying and brisk rubbing with good brush or coarse cloth, 
which will materially aid in restoring healthy action of the skin. 

If it is pasture season, give him a run at good grass during the day ; 
but stable at night in a clean stable, furnished with dry litter, and give 
him a generous feed of bran and oats, or moistened bran and chopped 
hay. Mix with the food night and morning, the following alterative : 

No. IT 3 Oz. powdered sasafras bark, 

3 Oz. sulphur, 
3 Oz. salt, 
2 Oz. bloodroot, 
2 Oz. balmony, 
1 Lb. oatmeal. 

Mix, and divide into twelve doses. 

If he appears in the beginning of the treatment to be filthy, feverish, 
and stiff, bleed him — taking from the neck vein three quarts. If the 
stiffness continues, bleed again after seven days, taking a like quantity. 

If the appetite is bad, mix with No. 17, (the alterative above described), 
a spoonful of ground ginger; but in general you should avoid cordials, 
tonics, and aromatics, (that is, warm and pungent medicines). They 
may arouse fever that would otherwise fail to develop itself, and thus 
defeat the object for which the mild laxatives and temperate alteratives 
})rescribed have been given. Cordials may indeed arouse the vital 
functions to sudden action; but even if no lasting fever is created, the 
action soon subsides, rendering it necessary to continue the cordial or 
forego whatever seeming advantage may have l^een derived from it. If 
excitment is continued by this means, the powers of nature are impaired 
•md lasting injury done. 

A good and sufficient tonic may be furnished, of which the horse will 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 279 

partake as much as the system requires, by placing a poplar pole in the 
stable, upon which he can conveniently gnaw. 

If the time is Winter, it will generally be found necessary to begin the 
course of treatment by giving a jDurgative, say two ounces of Epsom salts, 
which may be repeated within seven hours if it fails to produce the 
desired action ; and to feed him on laxative food until constipation is 
overcome and a healthful action of the bowels restored. 

Remember that one of the very first objects is to establish regular 
action of the bowels ; and then generous diet, (let it be green and succu- 
lent if possible, but at any rate nutritious without being inflammatory), 
with cleanliness and regukr friction of the hide, will do more than 
medicine. Do not expect to effect a speedy cure ; in any event, the very 
existence of hide-bound indicates chronic disorder, and all chronic dis- 
eases require time. 

If it is known to be the result of a well-defined disease, as big-head, 
farcy, etc., the treatment must of course be directed to the removal of 
that, according to directions elsewhere given in this work ; and the hide- 
bound will disappear as its immediate cause is removed. 

X. Saddle Galls, or Sit-fasts. 

Causes — These are swellings, sores, and tumors, caused by ill-fitting 
saddle or harness. Different names are applied to them according to 
their appearance and character. When a mere heated swelling on the 
horse's back or shoulders is unattended to, Avhile he is kept in . constant 
use, it sometimes assumes the appearance of a dead patch of skin, and 
is then called a icarhle ; when these ulcerate and discharge pus, and a 
leather-like piece of skin is firmly fixed upon the top of it, the name 
sit-fast is applied ; and when, by the use of saddle or harness before a 
warble or sitfast is thoroughly healed, a hard, callous lump is formed, it 
is called a navel gall — said to be so called because it is generally on that 
part of the back opposite the navel. 

How to know it — These swellings, sores, and tumors require no 
further description than has already been given. 

What to do — The first and most essential thing is, that the animal 
shall be allowed to rest ; or at any rate be subjected to such labor only 
as will not require the same chafing, abrading saddle or harness which 
has produced the trouble. 

Then, if it is merely a gall or scald — a heated, tender swelling, without 
either suppuration or hardness — bathe with cold salt and water two or 
three times daily. When the heat and tenderness are sensibly reduced, 
anoint occasionally, until the lump has entirely disappeared, with a mixture 
of tar and olive oil, equal parts. 



280 ILLUSTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

If it lias assumed the character of a sitfast, do not use the knife, xiut 
try to tear the dry skin away, but bathe with warm soft water, and then 
apply a poultice. This must l)e repeated, if necessary, until the callous 
skin is easily removed, and then anoint frequently, until the sore is healed, 
with the following : 

No. 18. 1 Dr. iodide of potash, 

6 Drs. simple ointment, 
2 Drs. glycerine. 

When it has reached the stage of navel gall — hard, grisly, almost 
horny — apply daily the camphorated, corrosi^sie sublimate, No. 2. Shake 
the bottle well before pouring it out ; use a mop with Avhich to put it on ; 
then, when it is thoroughly saturated with this liniment, use a hot iron 
with which to dry it in. 

When one hnds his horse suffering in this way under saddle or harness, 
his own interests,. as well as the promptings of humanity, demand that 
he shall at once remove the cause, if possible ; but it is sometimes the 
case that this cannot be done — absence on a journey, military necessity, 
press of farm or road work, requiring regular service. Under these 
circumstances the saddle or harness should receive immediate attention 
and subsequent watchfulness on the part of the rider or driver. The 
padding must be taken out of the saddle or collar so as to obviate 
pressure on the part affected ; or, as for the saddle, the blanket may be 
so arranged as to lift it from the spot. The sore place must be bathed 
well with salt and water as soon as possible after it is discovered ; 
and then covered with a piece of adhesive plaster, heated, of course, 
until it sticks readily. If matter has formed, a hole should be cut in 
the middle of the plaster to allow it to escape. 

Treated in this way, the horse may be ridden from day to day, and 
recover while in use. 

Greasing collars and other parts of harness will frequently prevent 
that chafing which results in sores and callous tumors. 

If the horse, through constitutional tenderness, is subject to these 
swellings and sores, it is well to put the saddle on half an hour before 
using him ; and leave it on, having slightly loosened the girths, for a half 
hour or an hour afterward, thus preventing sudden change in the temper- 
ature of the skin. 

XI. Fungous Collar Tumor. 

Causes — This in its nature is essentially the same as that descrilied in 
the preceding section as saddle gall, or sitfast — differing, however, in 
location and specific cause. It is an inflammation and swelling beneath 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 281 

the large flat muscle that covers the front of the shoulder, and is caused 
by the chaling of the collar. 

How to know it — it is scarcely necessary to undertake farther descrip- 
tion of a well-l?no\vn, visible affection. It is usually found near the 
point of the shoulder ; and the character of the tumor as to simplicitv 
or severity can be readily determined by examination. If of consideraljle 
standing, it will be found so hard as to render it almost impossible to 
detect any fluctuation that would indicate the presence of matter. 
Where there is much swelling, however, there is almost invariably matter, 
and no cure can be effected until this is removed. In cases less marked 
there will be a small, hard or indurated lump without matter. 

Under similar conditions as those mentioned in the preceding section, 
it may form a leathery patch in the center and become a real sitfast. 

What to do — The tumor must, if possible, be so treated as to leave no 
scar or lump, as this would be easily irritated by the collar upon subse- 
quent use, and prove a source of constant trouble. The first thinij in 
order will be to take the horse from work, if at all practicable. If not, 
use a breast-strap, so as to i^revent all further chafing. If the swellino- 
is recent, apply cold Avater often, or cover the part with a Avet ras; huns; 
over the shoulders in such a wa}^ as to remain in contact with the swellino^. 
This must be kept constantly wet. 

But if the tumor is large, and of long standing — already hardened 
and containing matter deejily hidden, open with a knife — making a 
smooth, vertical cut, and of sufficient depth to thoroughly evacuate 
the pus. Syringe the opening well every day with the following solution : 

No. 19. 30 Grains chloride of zinc, 

1 Quart water. 

If the wound seems inclined to heal and leave a hard lump in doing so, 
discontinue the injection, and rul) frequently Avith the following liniment 
to promote the absorption of the callous or gristly formation : 

Ko. 20. 1 Oz. iodine, 

12 Oz. soap liniment. 

XII. Warts. 

Causes — it is difficult to point out anything that may be imi^licitly 
received as the cause of these excrescences. Generally accompanying a 
plethoric condition, they may ho. considered as owing their origin prima- 
rily to high feeding and insufficient exercise. This, hoAvever, must not 
be taken as conclusiA^e, since they not unfrequently appear upon active 
animals, of meagre habit. 



282 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The manner of their formation seems to be this : Knots in the true skin 
are gradually developed, being surrounded with a covering of the scarf- 
skin, something thickened and matted together ; and this outer covering 
o-enerally dries and splits into libers towards the top, while blood, in 
o-reater quantities than usual, is sent to the inner or vascular parts ; and 
more nutriment is thus diverted to it than to the surrounding flesh, s<; 
that an upward or outward growth is promoted. 

Seed warts usually make their appearance on the eyelids, the nose, the 
sheath and adjoining parts of the belly ; the encysted or sac warts, on 
the pasterns, hock-joints, and knee-joints, and sometimes upon the sheath 
and neighboring parts. 

Unless warts appear upon the penis they are not injurious to health, 
and at first occasion little inconvenience unless upon the shoulder or 
some part where harness or saddle touches constantly ; but they should 
be removed, nevertheless — particularly the sac wart and those seed warts 
which manifest a tendency to enlargement. If the encysted or blood 
wart is allowed to remain it will almost invariably enlarge and spread. 

How to know it — There are two kinds of these formations, one of 
which is fibrous, white, and gristly or cartilaginous, but somewhat 
spongy lump, contained in a sac or cell w^hich has taken its rise from the 
outer or scarf-skin ; and the other is a somewhat cartilaginous substance, 
not inclosed, but adhering firmly to the skin — a hard excrescence, — the 
" seed wart," — which is too well known to require particular description. 
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the blood wart, as the former is 
sometimes called, from the seed wart ; but it generally presents a more 
rounded, smooth appearance, and sometimes hangs as by a little stem, in 
which last case it is readily known. 

What to do. — If there is doubt as to the character of the wart, the 
matter may be speedily determined by running a sharp-knife through it ; 
when, if a blood or sac wart, the contents will come out, accompanied 
by more or less copious bleeding; whereas, the seed wart will in this 
ease be merely divided by the incision, each part retaining its firmness or 
consistency. 

When the blood w^art is thus opened, nothing more will be necessary 
than to touch the part with a solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to 
the ounce of water, or lunar caustic. When these warts are attached to 
the skin by narrow bases, or small stems, they may be clipped off with 
knife or scissors, and the part slightly burned over with caustic as pre- 
viously directed. 

If the growth is of the fixed kind, or seed wart, remove by means of 
»<^issors or knife when standing singly ; but if the stem or base is large, 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 2b'^ 

or if the warts grow in bundles, too numerous and too close together to 
be cut away, pick off or otherwise chafe the rough outer surface so as to 
make it bleed ; then with a stiff brush rub in yellow orpiment wetted 
with a little water, and in a few days they will come away, or may be 
rubbed off, and leave a healthy sore, which soon heals. If the entire 
wart does not come off by reason of one application, repeat. 

When the penis is wholly covered with warts, the best plan is to have 
it amputated, as the warts cannot easily be removed without destroying 
as much of it as it would be necessary to remove entirely in order to be 
rid of them. 

XIII. Vermin. 

Causes — Vermin are both a cause and a consequent of skin disease ; 
and being also bred in the hairy covering, perhaps in the very skin 
itself, they are properly treated in this connection. 

Every species of animal is more or less troubled with his own peculiar 
insect tormentor ; and while no well-defined cause can be assigned as to 
their origin, they are almost always found associated with filth and 
squalor. 

They sometimes, however, trouble animals of fair condition, and accus- 
tomed to reasonable care ; but in this case they are caught by contact. 

Poor, ill-cared-for, mangy horses, colts in the Spring of the year, with 
long, uncurried coats, and old and feeble horses with like rouah and 
shaggy covering, most probably breed them ; and on these they are most 
frequently and plentifully found. 

The itching torment to which they subject diseased animals doubtless 
intensifies whatever disorder may exist ; and the very earliest opportunity 
should be taken to eradicate them from the sufferer. 

When horses stand in proximity to a hen-house, they are often 
seriously annoyed Avith hen-lice, which are even more tormenting than 
those peculiar to the horse himself. 

How to know it — The horse infested with vermin will usually mani- 
fest his uneasiness by biting and rubbing himself ; but their presence 
may be unmistakably detected by a more or less careful examination of 
his coat. 

What to do. — If the horse is suffering from some skin disease requir- 
ing treatment, the means adopted for this will almost invariably sufiice of 
themselves to remove the vermin ; but where no such disease exists, and 
it is a simple case of lousiness, anoint him mth the following salve : 



284 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 21. 1 Dr. carbolic acid crystals, 

1 Quart fresh lard. 

Rub it upon every part of the body thoroughly ; wash with warm soap 
suds next day ; repeat if necessary — at last washing and drying. 

Attention to his general health will also be demanded ; and to this end 
he should be upon good pasture, or a liberal supply of nourishing but 
not heating food should be given. 

If it is a case of hen-lice, the first thing to be done is to remove the 
horse from the jjlace infested with these, and then to anoint and wash 
as before directed. 

XIV. Larva in the Skin. 

Causes. — The larva, which infests chiefly the back — ^that part of the 
horse upon which saddle or harness must press — is not only a source of 
trouble to the animal, but of great inconvenience to the master, as the 
acute painfulness of a tumor raised by one of these grubs often pre- 
vents use. 

The larva is the offspring of a fly which deposits its eggs upon the 
back and sides of the horse while he is out at pasture or roaming at large 
upon the common. This fly does not frequent the barn-yard and stable, 
so that horses which are confined to these when not in use are never 
annoyed with the larva. 

The eggs are hatched by the warmth of the animal ; and the creature 
burrows into the skin, where it remains and grows till Spring, raising 
meanwhile, by its irritating presence, a small lump, which is eventually 
developed into a painful tumor, upon the pus of which the insect pro- 
longs a life that it began upon the natural juices of the skin and cellu- 
lar tissue. 

How to know it — The most unmistakable sign of the trouble, when it 
is not plainly discernible with the eye, is the restlessness manifested by 
the horse Avhen subjected to the saddle. When he does this, and no 
well-defined occasion for his displeasure and his pranks is readily per- 
ceptible, examination will reveal a tumor or abscess if the larva is present ; 
for the horse will hardly grow restive at first, when there is a mere lump 
in the skin. Upon the top of this abscess a black spot will be found, 
which is the point of entrance, and the oj^ening through which the 
insect obtains the little air that it needs. 

What to do. — The best thing to do, because both quickest and safest, 
is to open the top of the tumor slightly with a lancet, and then to 
squeeze out the larva. The wound should then be dressed a time or two 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 285 

with a solution of one grain of chloride of zinc to one gill of water ; and 
the trouble will soon be over. 

XV. Tetter. 

Causes. — This seems to arise from some constitutional cause, which it 
is difficult to point out. It appears on horses of different conditions or 
habit of bodj. On some it breaks out periodically, Summer after 
Summer. 

It is not contagious, unless neglected until it assumes the epizootic form, 
which it sometimes does, after which it is communicable to both man 
and horse. 

There are said by some to be two or three forms of tetter, but in 
reality whatever different forms it may assume, when not complicated 
with other affections, they are indications of different degrees of severity. 

How to know it._The attack is usually sudden, and the animal is 
observed to rub himself severely, as suifering from intense itchiness. 
The neck, shoulders, back, and thighs are the points ordinarily affected. 
Upon examination, the skin will be found red. with inflammation, some- 
times torn or scratched by rubbing ; and the blisters or pimples will 
be seen on those parts of the inflamed spot not so torn or scratched. 
These blisters break, and a watery fluid is discharged, which keeps the 
surface moist. 

In its more advanced stage it may be taken for mange ; but it may be 
distinguished from mange l)y its manifesting less tendency to spread and 
invade all parts of the skin ; and by the absence of parasites under the 
scabby portions. 

What to do. — First, see that the horse's bowels are jout in good condi- 
tion. If there is any tendency to plethora, (too gi'eat fulness), to 
constipation, or general feverishness, give him a purgative dose ; and in 
any event let his food be of such character as to prevent costiveness. 

Give, once a day, an ounce of Fowler's solution of arsenic. Eub the 
affected parts well with sweet oil, and let it remain thereon for a few 
hours ; then wash with warm soapsuds so as to remove the scabs or 
scales. Then cover the diseased surface and some jDortion of the healthy 
skin all round with the following ointment ; 

No. -22. K Lb. flour of sulphur, 

}i Lb. carbonate of potash, 

1 Oz. carbolic acid, 

2 Lbs. lard, 

2 Lbs. olive oil. 



28(5 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Mix well with a gentle heat. Allow it to remain on the skin for two 
or three days, and then wash off with strong soap and water. 

Tar ointment, (equal quantities of tar and lard well mixed with gentle 
heat), is an excellent external application, and may be used when No. 22 
is difficult to procure. 

XVI. Eat Tails. 

Causes Simple tetter, as also mallenders and sallenders, is sometimes 

allowed through neglect to become obstinate ; the skin thickens ; ugly 
cracks are formed, from which flows in abundance a sort of purulent 
half -watery fluid ; upon the thickened portion of the skin the scabs 
increase, growing up into somewhat perpendicular layers, and the hairs 
growing from these are glued together by the exuding matter. Such 
bunches of matted hair are called, by reason of their appearance, "rat 
tails." 

The disease seems occasionally to be produced outright, without the 
supervention of any other known disorder, by much exposure to wet 
ground of a chalky or loamy nature, or to sticky mud. 

How to know it. — It appears chiefly upon the legs, one or all of 
which may be affected at the same time ; but the hairs of the tail, 
especially near the root of the tail, are often found in the condition 
described, and for a like reason. Tetter, ringworm, or some other dis- 
mder produces itching ; the horse rubs the part till it becomes raw ; 
matter exudes at length, and the hair is matted in bunches along the 
upper portion of the tail bone, as shown in the figure exhibiting external 
manifestations of disease. 

If resulting from either neglected tetter, no matter what its position, 
or from mallenders and sallenders, it is accompanied by itchiness ; but 
this is generally less severe than is the case with these disorders in their 
simple form. When the disease is fully developed, the appearance of 
the bunches of hair upon the parts is a sufficient indication. 

What to do. — As in simple tetter, attention must be directed to estab- 
lishing a good condition of the bowels ; and to this end a purgative may 
be given — especially if there is any indication of constipation and 
general feverishness. The food must be regulated by the necessity of 
keeping down all inflammatory symptoms. Make a tonic powder as 
follows : 

Jio. 23. 12 Oz. sulpliur, 

1 Dr. arsenic, 
1 Oz. bruised coriander seed. 

Divide into twelve parts and give one in the food night and morning. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 287 

Dress the sores three times a day with the following lotion, ai)plyiug 
with a soft rag : 

No. 24. 1 Fluid oz. laudanum, 

1 Fluid oz. glycerine, 
Vx Oz. carbonate of soda, 
1 Quart water. 

XVII. Mallenders and Sallenders. 

Causes.— By these terms are denoted oozy, scurfy patches upon the 
knee and hock — those which appear back of the knee being called (for 
what reason nobody seems to know) mallenders ; and those which appear 
in front of the hock, sallenders. They spring from idleness and neglect 
— an impure state of the blood having been brought on by heating and 
unsuitable diet, and disorders of the bowels, liver, or kidneys. 

Though of no serious importance as diseases, they are unsightly, and, 
if neglected, they result in troublesome sores. 

How to know it. — They first begin as a moist tetter, apt to escape 
observation until they appear in a roughened state of hair about the 
parts mentioned, under which the skin is scurfy, feverish and somewhat 
tender. Itching of such severity sometimes attends them as to render 
the horse restive and hard to keep under restraint. 

What to do — In the first place attend to the cleanliness of the horse 
and put him upon a regular course of moderate exercise. Give him 
t^vice daily, night and morning, a pint of the excellent alterative and 
tonic drink : 

No. 25. 1 Fluid oz. liquor arsenicftlis, 

IK Oz. tincture muriate of iron, 

1 Qt. water. 

Kub the parts affected two or three times a day -with an ointment made 
as follows : 

No. 26. 1 Oz. animal glycerine, 

2 Drs. mercurial ointment, 
2 Drs. powdered ointment, 
1 Oz. spermacetti. 

If the scurfy places have developed into suppurating sores, use, instead 
of the ointment, the following lotion, saturating them well twice a day : 

No. 27. K Pint animal glycerine, 

}i Oz. chloride of zinc, 
6 Quarts water. " • 

Be careful that his food is such as to keep him from constipation and 
fever. 



288 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



XVIII. Poll-evil. 

Causes Poll-evil is the name given to a deep abscess having its se&l 

of primary inflanmiation between the ligament of the neck and the first 
fjone which lies beneath without being attached to it ; and it is serious 
in its nature by reason of this depth and of the difficulty with which the 
matter formed finds its way to the surface through the strong fibrous 
membrane that envelopes it. If not attended to in its early stages, the 
surface of the first bone from the head, or that of the joint between the 
first two bones, becomes inflamed, and the joint or joints involved. 

The disease may be said to owe its origin almost wholly to violence of 
some kind. A blow upon the poll by a brutal driver may very readily 
produce it ; and much slighter causes, often repeated, result in this 
affection; as, the forcing on of a tight collar day after day; hanging 
back and so bruising the poll with bridle or halter ; and excessive rul>bing 
of that part because of itch produced by dirt accumulated about the ears 
and upper point of the neck and not carried away by brush or currycomb. 
Strikino- the head against low ceilings and the beams of low doorways is 
doubtless responsible for very many cases of this dangerous and disa- 
greeable disorder. 

How to know it — A certain restlessness, a throwing back of the head 
and then returning ; again, a drooping tendency, turning the head from 
one side to the other ; a dull appearance about the eyes ; a sluggishness 
of movement — all these are sometimes observed before any symptoms 
of the disease may be discovered about the head. 

Sometimes no notice is taken of its existence until considerable swelling 
and even an unwholesome discharge have set in ; but more frequently an 
oval tumor is discovered, — hot, tender, situated directly in the region of 
the nape of the neck, but generatly inclining to one side. In the milder 
form this tumor is evidently superficial ; and the horse moves his head 
with comparative ease and freedom ; whereas, in the more advanced stage 
he carries it stiffly, and every movement of it or the neck causes great pain. 

Sometimes the disorder is so deeply- 
seated that the tumor is not developed 
sufBciently to make much outward show„ 
It is much likelier to discover itself plainly 
as a vrell-developed swelling when the 
hurt is superficial. In any case, it must 
be examined with the fingers to deter- 
mine this point. Place the fingers gently 
upon it, and give the animal time to re- 
cover from the little scare into which this 
touchino; of a sore at first jrives him : 




Poll-evil during tue First Stage. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 



28J> 



then gradually press upon the part. 
If the hurt is near the surface, he will 
flinch quickly ; if deeply seated, he 
will be correspondingly slow in show- 
ing evidences of pain. If suppura- 
tion has already set in, it can readily 
he known when near the surface by a 
sort of fluctuatino- f eelino: ; but this 
fluctuation can scarcely be felt at all 
if the matter is deep seated. 




Poll-evil ix its Second Stag 



What to do. — If discovered w^ien there is nothing more than a swelling, 
no matter having yet been found, remove all tendency to general fever- 
ishness by giving purgative medicine according to evident fullness of 
<'ondition ; allow the horse to rest ; and put him on moderately light 
diet. Then make the following cooling lotion, and keep the SAvelling 
constantly moistened w'ith it by having a small rag pad laid over it and 
saturated with the mixture from time to time : 



No. 28. 



2 Oz. tincture of arnica, 
1 Dr. ioLlide of potassium, 
1 Qt. vinegar, 
1 (.)t. camomile infusion. 



If this does not reduce the inflammation and remove tiie swelling 
within a few days, it may be inferred that matter is already forming, 
though it may have been impossible at first to detect it ; and you must 
bring it to a head as soon as practicable Ijy poulticing. Use for this pur- 
pose a mixture of ground flax seed, corn meal, oil of turpentine, and 
hog's lard. As soon as matter can ]:>e felt, have ready a large and very 
sharp knife ; cast the animal, and have some one to sit upon his neck to 
prevent struggling; then open with a quick, steady, and strong. sweep of 
the blade through the tumor — being careful to have the wound open at 
the lower point of the tumor, so as to provide for more easily draining it 
of matter that may hereafter form. Be careful, too, not to cut the 
tendhious ligament that runs along the neck under the mane. If the 
matter appears to be on both sides, open the places separately, so as to 
leave this ligament undivided. It may, if absolutely necessary, be 
severed between the second l)one and the head, and the support of the 
head be not materially Aveakened, since the main stress is on the second 
bone, and the diAaded ligament, if healthy, will soon heal again ; but it 
is best to avoid all risks ; and if at all convenient, the aid of an exper- 
ienced veterinary surgeon should l)e had when it becomes necessary to 
use the knife. 



290 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The wound must now be cleansed by being syringed daily with a stim- 
ulatino- Avash, (1-2 dr. chloride of zine in 1 quart of water), until a 
healthy discharge sets in, and evidences of healing begin to manifest 
themselv^es. Nothing further will then be necessary than to keep the 
parts clean by daily sponging with warm soapsuds. 

It sometimes occurs that before remedial measures are resorted to, not 
alone the fleshy, but the tendinous, ligamentary, and bony structures 
have become involved, and the disease has assumed a desperate char- 
acter. If further neglected, the spinal cord is likely to become diseased, 
and the case hopeless. If, upon opening a tumor, the matter is found to 
flow in great quantities, resembling melted glue, with something of an 
oily consistence, it may be knowm that the disease is deep-seated and 
danp-erous ; and the probe should be employed to find whatever cavities 
may exist. If any are found, the knife should again be employed, and 
another cut made, smooth down, and in the same direction as the first, to 
prevent all rough and hacked walls, till the lowest depths are reached. 
Then cleanse the wounds with warm soapsuds, using a good gum com- 
press syringe ; and dress with a mixture of spirits of turpentine, honey, 
and tincture of myrrh. When a thick, light-colored matter begins to 
appear, the dressing must be discontinued, and the parts must be kept 
clean, as previously directed, by sponging with warm soapsuds. 

It is sometimes necessary to cut away loose pieces of ligament till a 
healthy aspect is presented on the walls and in the depths of the incision. 

In the more desperate cases, numerous openings are formed, and these 
discharae a matter resembling the white of an e^o-, which adheres to the 
su^TOunding parts, and gives to the animal a most repulsive appearance. 
In this case the knife should be used so as to take in at one sweep the 
greatest number of openings, and then the other openings should be con- 
nected by cuts with this main channel ; after which the wound should be 
cleansed as previously directed, and dressed Avith the mixture prescribed 
— spirits of turpentine, honey, and tincture of myrrh. 

After matter has formed, the knife is the only sure means of saving 
the horse ; and, in the hands of the skillful man, it is a merciful 
means. The operation is brief ; and the relief is more speedy than can 
otherwise be o1)tained. Let no one attempt it, however, who cannot 
operate as though for the moment divested of feeling, as there must be 
no hesitation, no awkwardness as to direction, no notching and hacking. 

A horse that has once had the poll-evil should never afterward have a 
collar thrust over his head, or be hauled around with a halter or any 
other head-gear pressing upon the part. The poll will long remain ten- 
der, and a return of the disorder is likely. 

If it is necessary to treat during Summer, when the horse is apt to b© 



I 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 291 

annoyed with flies, keep the wound covered with a rag moistened i]i u 
solution of tar. 

XIX. Fistula. 

Causes. — This is sometimes known as fistulous withers^ to distinguish 
it from listuhi of the parotid duct. It is similar to poll-evil and is gen- 
erally caused in like manner, by bruises. In the case of fistula, these 
bruises may be caused by an ill-fitting collar ; by a lady's saddle, partic- 
ularly if awkwardly ridden; b}^ the jjressing forward of a man's saddle, 
especially in case of high withers ; by striking the withers against the 
top of a low door-way ; by rolling and striking the withers against some 
hard substance ; by the biting of other horses ; and by a blow of the 
blacksmith's hammer. The points of the spinal processes, (little pro- 
jections of the spine or back bone,) are hurt, inflammation sets in, and 
the fistulous tumor is produced. Its site is the spine above the shoulders ; 
and it is more troublesome than poll-e^^l, because it is more exposed to 
repeated injuries. 

How to know it — The first indication will be a swelling on one or 
both sides of the withers, generally rather broad and flat. Upon exam- 
ination with the fingers this will be found hot, tender, and apparently 
deep seated. If observed when first formed, it will be of uniform 
hardness throughout. If unattended to while in this state, the tumor 
soon becomes an abscess ; and owing to the difficulty in the way of the 
matter's escaping, (its natural outlet being at the top of the shoulders), 
the pus sinks downward ; and the al)scess sometimes becomes enormous 
before there is any well defined head, and before there is any opening. 
When it breaks, or is opened, a large quantity of extremely offensive 
matter flows out. Ordinarily, the tumor will come to a head in from one 
to two Aveeks. When the discharge has begun, the tumor does not Ijegin 
to grow healthy and heal, but the walls of the opening thicken, and 
continue to discharge matter which becomes more and more offensive. 
The matter burrows between the shoulder blade and spinal points, and 
everything around seems to be rotting away ; and it is both difficult and 
dangerous to trace the opening. In process of time several holes will 
appear along the course of the muscles in contact with the original abscess, 
and from each issues a foul discharge, till the ulcerating process seems 
to extend itself to nearly all the muscles of the shoulder. 

The health of the animal may at first be excellent, and there may be 

no lameness ; but as the inflammation extends, there is lameness of the 

shoulder, and he suffers generally — often greatly. He is averse to 

motion, and will suffer for food and drink rather than undergo the pain 

19 



292 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




feiilGUT EvLAnCBMENT WHICU jrAY END 

IN FieruLocs WixiiEits. 



oi trying to reach and partake of it. In its worst stages the bones 
extending into the sinus decay. 

What to do — Be careful to ascertain, in the 
first place, whether the tumor has newly 
risen. The matter may form in one, even 
while it is quite small ; and it is important 
to know when the knife may be used to 
advantage. 

If matter has already formed, it can be 
detected by the somcAvhat soft and fluctuat- 
ing feeling of the abscess. 

If discovered while still a new formation, 
take the horse from work, if possilile ; if 
not, take especial pains to protect the in- 
jured point or points from pressure. 
A bruise at that point of the ^ith- 
ers where the collar rests will not 
unfit a horse for the saddle, unless 
considerable inflammation and ex- 
tending soreness has already set in ; 
nor will a saddle bruise, farther 
back on the withers, necessarily un- 
fit him for harness. 

A recent swelling should be im- 
mediately treated with fomentations of bitter herbs. 

Boil wormwood, or muUen stalks, or life-everlasting in soft water, to 
make a strong decoction ; and apply it with large woolen cloths, as hot 
as can be borne, to hasten the formation of matter. When the tumor 
begins to soften and show signs of heading, have a suitable, fine-jDointed, 
sharp knife. Ascertain the lowest point of the abscess. Then stand 
close to his side, near the middle, to avoid both hind and fore feet in 
case of kicking or striking, with the back of the knife to the shoulder ; 
point upward and outward, stick at the lower edge, and cut open with a 
free incision. Next, S3a-inge the abscess till it is as thoroughly cleansed 
as possible with a solution of carbolic acid and water, one part acid to 
two of water. Then dress with coal oil, ov some convenient salve. 
After two or three days, the wound should be thoroughly cleansed by 
syringing with warm soap suds ; then use the carbolic acid water, and 
lepeat the oil or salve dressing ; and so on till a cure is effected. 

The patient must m no case be turned to pasture, since the constant 
motion of the neck and jaws necessary to procuring and masticating his 
^ood aggravates every symptom. Stable him comfortably, and feed 




FisTOLOcs WiTHER=i— Worst Stagk. 



THE HORSE, SKIN DISEASES, ETC. 293 

according to his general condition. Let him have water freely ; and give 
opportunity each day for some exercise by allowing him the run of u 
small inclosure. 

When the case has become chronic, and holes in considerable number 
have appeared, make a cut so as to reach the bones, and to include m its 
course as many holes as practicable. If there are other openings, (par- 
ticularly below), cut from them into the main incision. Have an assistant 
to press back the sides of the greater opening till the matter is cleared 
out ; and if the spinous processes or points are found to be carious or 
rotten, nij) oif with a pair of bone forceps till the healthy bone is 
reached. If any of this decaying bone is left, the wound will inevitably 
matter and break again, though it may for a time appear to have healed. 

After thus cleaning out the bulk of the matter and picking away the 
dead bone, use the syringe and warm soap-suds still further to clean the 
parts ; then inject the carbolic solution as previously directed. But 
instead of coal oil, use this ointment once a .day ; 

No. 29. K Oz. verdigris, 

}i Oz. copperas, 
1 Oz. oil of turpentine, 
4 Oz. yellow rosin. 

The copperas and rosin must be finely powdered — ^then mix all together 
thoroughly. When a kind of thick whitish discharge is observed to have 
set in, discontinue the ointment ; but still wash or syringe thoroughly, al 
intervals, with warm soap-suds. To keep away flies, cover the wound, 
after each dressing, with a large cloth saturated with diluted tar. 

Should the horse grow feverish from the effects of blood poisoning, 
which takes place in a greater or less degree in this chronic stage by 
reason of absorption, bleed him once, at least, taking from the neck vein 
from three to six quarts, according to general condition and severity of 
the inflammation. • 

When the disease has proceeded to the length of requiring this severe 
treatment, the recovery is necessarily slow, and the horse is inevitably 
disfigured. 

In very desperate cases it is sometimes best, or, indeed, almost indis- 
pensable, to use the rowel. The pipes, (or sinuses as they are sometimes 
called), the openings whence the matter exudes, take a dangerous direc~ 
tion, and tend from the withers to the chest. Use an elastic probe, to 
ascertain the direction and the depth ; and if it is found that cutting will 
not answer, use the guarded seton or rowel needle described in the chap- 
ter on medicines, ointments, etc. Insert it as far as it will go, then give 
it a firm rap on the handle, so as to force out the cutting edge and drive 
the point through the flesh. Knot one end of a long, slender tape. 



294 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

place the other through the openmg near the pomt of the needle and 
draw it through. Then tie a knot at the other end, and leave it. In 
this way, the sinus will have an opening below, and the tape will act as a 
drain, while tending also by friction to remove the hard lining of the 
pipe. As soon as a healthy looking matter is seen to be issuing from 
the lower orifice, remove the seton, but cleanse occasionally with warm 
soap and water. 



CHAPTER in. 



DISEASES OF THE GLANDS AND NASAL MEMBRANES. 



T GLAA'DERS. U. FARCY. III. DISTEMPER. IV. NASAL GLEET. V. NASAt 

POLYPUS. 

I. Glanders. 

Causes. — This seems to be primarily a disease of the lymphatic and 
nasal glands, and confined to them : but upon this point authorities dis- 
agree, and it is contended by some that all the air passages are always 
affected — that it is a kind of phthisic, or incipient pulmonary disorder — 
and that whether the ulcers appear on the membrane of the nose prior or 
subsequent to the formation of tubercles in the lungs does not invalidate 
the proposition that the earliest external manifestations are but the 
effects of pulmonary derangement. The most tenable conclusion, how- 
ever, is plainly this : that inflammation of the membrane of the nose, 
and contined to that membrane, at last results in ulceration ; that the 
matter discharged from these is poisonous, and acts upon the glands by 
means of the absorbents with which it comes in contact, and is also 
inhaled into the lungs with the air as it passes through the nasal cavities, 
till at length both the circulatory and the respiratory systems are gen- 
erally diseased. 

Whence this poison is derived is not at all clearly defined. The disease 
is both spontaneous, (bred in the horse), and contagious ; but it is doubt- 
less due far more frequently to predisposing cause than to contagion. It 
is found as a prevalent disease where neglect, filth, and foul atmosphere 
exist; and we may reasonably conclude that poisonous inhalations, acting 
upon the delicate and easily irritated membrane of the nose, produce 
that incipient ulceration from which the subsequent general poisoning 
proceeds. In close stalls, the carbonic acid given off from the lungs, 
(wliich gas is of a deadly poisonous character), passes again and again 

295 



296 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

into the lungs, mixed with other impurities of the stall itself ; this, actmg 
perhaps more readily upon the nasal meml)rane than upon the other 
linings of the air passages, produces inflammation. This inflammation 
may long exist, and unsuspected by the ordinary observer, till some 
intense action is set up, when ulceration takes place. 

Or it may be produced by anything that injures and weakens the vital 
energy of this membrane ; as violent catarrh, accompanied by long con- 
tinued discharge from the nostrils ; a fracture of the bones of the nose ; 
and the too frequent injection of stimulating and acid substances up the 
nostrils. Everything that weakens the constitution, may, under peculiar 
circumstances, produce glanders. Among the hurtful influences that 
may operate to this end we may enumerate : hardships and an exhausted 
constitution ; any interference with the due elimination or throwing off 
of morbid and waste matter from the system ; want of regular exercise ; 
sudden and violent exercise when the horse has not been previously pre- 
pared for it ; placing a weak and worn-out horse upon a course of diet 
that is too nutritious and stimulating ; and hereditar}^ predisposition to 
certain forms of disease. 

One i)oint is deserving of special mention : it is sometimes present and 
contagious in animals apparently in fine l)odily condition ; other horses 
may contract the disease from such a one and die of it while it is still 
difficult to discover unmistakable traces of it in the first. There may be 
inflammation, and minute ulcers so far up the nasal passages as not to be 
seen ; these little hidden ulcers may discharge so small a quantity of mat- 
ter as to escape notice, and 3'^et the matter is so poisonous that when it 
comes in contact "svith any thin and delicate membrane, hy which it may 
be absorbed, it will produce glanders. Weeks, and even months, may 
intervene between the first existence of inflamed membrane and the 
development of the disease. In this case there ma}^ be counteracting 
tendencies, requiring some violent action or sudden change to determine 
the issue. 

It must be observed that its infectious nature is not general, but par- 
ticular — depending upon inoculation with the matter exuded from 
glanderous ulcers, or at least from poison received in some way from the 
glandered animal and communicated directly to a wound or to some del- 
icate membrane of another horse, an ass, or a human being. 

How to know It. — As may be inferred from the .preceding, it is not 
ahvays easy to detect the actual presence of this disease, though it is 
often a matter of paramount importance that it should be known. Its 
dangerous character as an infectious disorder makes it essential that it 
should be known in its very earliest stages, that the proper precautijons 
may be taken to prevent the infection from spreading. 



THE HORSE, DISEASES OF THE NASAL, GLANDS, ETC. 297 

There are some symptoms that may be observed, even Ixjfore the. 
appearance of any discharge whatever ; and these ma}^ be described, 
though they may sometimes prove falhicious, and are found to be but 
extraordinary indications of some other disease. 

The first signs are those of heaviness, dulhiess, followed hy fever ; the 
eyes are red and unhealthy looking, while the light is .seemingly painful to 
them. The hair is one day dry, the next, perhaps, it resumes its natural 
appearance, and so alternating until after awhile it l)ecomes staring and 
unnatural. The flesh wastes away rapidly for a time ; then, and particu- 
larly if a change of food is introduced, showing some improvement, and 
so alternating till at length he begins to show signs of permanenlly 
failing health and of a general debility. 

These may be regarded as for the most part premonitory signs, and up 
to tliis time there may be no appearance of tumors and no discharge 
from the nostrils ; Imt the animal should be subjected to the luost rigid 
scrutin}', to discover whether there is anything to confirm the impression 
made by the symptoms enumerated as to the probable existence of glan- 
dered condition. 

After these manifestations there may l>c said to be three stages of the 
disease, the peculiarities of each of which, in so far as they are distinctly 
defined, are generallv as follows : In the first stao;e the discharge so 
much resembles that which attends some other nasal affection as some- 
times to pass unnoticed, but examination vnll disclose a curious fact 
which has not been accounted for, — it will be found confined to one 
nostril, and that, in the vast majority of cases, the left. Occasionally it 
is the right, very seldom both. This, however, must not be regarded as 
a peculiarity of the first only, as it is common to every stage of tii« 
disease. 

The second stage is characterized b}^ an increased flow, and it alsfy 
becomes more mucous and sticky, while its color changes from an almost 
transparent clearness to a whitish or yellowish tinge. It often begins 
now to drip from the nose in stringy clots. Some of the matter in this 
stage, now more actively poisonous, being taken up by the absorbents, 
affects the neighboring glands. If both nostrils are discharging, the 
glands within the under jaw mil be enlarged on both sides ; if from one 
nostril, only the gland on that side. As other diseases will produce 
these swelled glands, as catarrh, for instance, it becomes necessary to 
look for some peculiarity in order to determine certainly as to the exist- 
ence of glanders. At first the enlargement may be spread over so much 
surface as not to make any distinctly marked lumps : but this soon 
changes, and one or two small swellings remain, and these are not in the 
center of the channel, but adhere close to the jaw on the affected side; 



298 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

This may be regarded as an almost conclusive test. The membrane of 

the nose will now be found of either a dark purplish hue or a leaden 

color — the latter, unless there is some of the redness of inflammation; 

and ulcers will probably appear upon the membrane, usually approacliing 

to a circular form, and deep, >\dth abrupt and prominent edges. When 

these appear there can be no further doubt, but care must be taken to 

know that they are not spots of mucous. To this end, try whether they 

may be brushed away. Notice particularly, too, that the orifice of the 

duct which connects with the tear glands is just within the nostril, and 

on the inner side of it; otherwise, this, if foul, may be mistaken for an 

ulcer. This orifice may be readily distinguished from an ulcer by 

obser\dng that it is on the continuation of the connnon sldn, while the 

olanderous ulcers are on the membrane of the nose, 
o 

When these ulcers begin to be visible, the general condition of the 
animal soon shows signs of change ; his coat seems dead and staring, the 
hair coming off easily ; his appetite is impaired ; he loses flesh ; his belly 
contracts ; he grows more and more debilitated : there is more or less 
cough ; the discharge increases in quantity, and its increased poisonous 
character causes it to remove the hair where it flows, while it seems 
tinged with blood, and is offensive to the smell. 

In the third stage the ulcers have become larger and more numerous ; 
and upon placing the ear to the horse's chest, a grating, choking noise 
will be heard at every act of breathing. The air passages being obstructed, 
every" breath is drawn with difiiculty. The skin of the forehead will be 
found somewhat thickened, swelled, and peculiarly tender ; the membrane 
lining the frontal openings of the nose will be not onl}^ ulcerated but 
evidently inflamed ; the discharges are increased and become more sticky 
and of darker color, though still somewhat flecked Avith blood. The 
absorbents become more and more involved ; it seems now that general 
ulceration has set in • and the additional symptoms are henceforth those 
of farcy. 

To prevent its being mistaken in its earlier stages for strangles, which 
is sometimes done, the following directions will suflSce : 

Strangles is peculiar to young horses, and at the outset resembles cold 
with some fever and sore throat, accompanied generally by distressing 
cough and some wheezing. The enlargement which sometimes appears 
beneath the jaw in strangles is not a single small gland, but a swelling 
of the whole substance between the jaws, growing harder toward the 
center, and at length, if the disease runs on, breaking. In strangles the 
membranes of the nose will be very red, and the discharge from the 
nostrils profuse and mattery almost from the first. When the tumor has 
hurst, the fever will abate and the horse will speedily get well. 



THE HOESE, DISEASES OF THE NASAL GLANDS, ETC. 299 

To distinguish it from catarrh, for which also it is sometimes mistaken, 
observe that fever, loss of appetite, coughing, and sore throat all 
accompany catarrh, whereas these symptoms are rarel}' if ever found 
together in glanders. In catarrh, the horse quids his food, (drops it 
from his mouth partially chewed), and gulps his water. The discharge 
from the nose is profuse and sometimes mattery ; the glands under the 
jaw, if swollen, are movable, while there is a thickening around them 
and they arc hot and tender. 

What to do — The first thing to do, and in the first stage, will naturally 
suggest itself to any one who has taken the pains to inform himself of 
the dreadful nature of the disease. Its contagious character renders it 
dangerous, as has been said, not only to all of the horse kind. but to 
man ; and no time should ])e lost in removini»' a olandered animal from 
the possibility of communicating the disorder to another. If stabled, 
there should be no connection whatever between his stall and those of 
other animals, as the discharge from the nostril, (in which lies the 
danger), maybe communicated through any opening sutficient to allow 
horses to ])itc or nibble at each other. If placed to pasture, it should be 
known that no other horse is at all likely either to be turned in with him 
or to approach the in closure. And this reriioval or separation should 
take place whenever it is observed that there is that constant discharge 
from one nostril which has been described, even though it may seem but 
watery and natural, and the horse be in the ver}^ best apjoarent condition. 
Remember that a glandered condition may long exist, and minute ulcers, 
in the hidden recesses of the nose, discharge a sort of limpid or clear 
fluid, without any of the acti^s'c and violent symptoms being manifest ; 
but that all this time the horse may be able to communicate the disease 
to others ; and that these may die of it while he is yet in reasonably fair 
condition. 

It can hardly escape the intelligent horse owner that every known 
cause of the disease should, if possible, be promptly removed. Close, 
damp, dark stables, reeking with exhalations distilled from mingled dung, 
urine, and rain water, ought at any rate to begin to receive a little 
attention after the poor occupant has caught w^hat is more than likely to 
prove his death ; if he is jaded and exhausted by lal)or, no hope of cure 
can be entertained unless he is promptly released from his toils and put 
upon moderate and health-giving exercise only, wdth such generous diet 
as will restore the wasted tissues ; if, on the contrary, he is pampered 
and stimulated and grown unwholesomely plethoric for want of labor 
proportioned to his good keeping, his food should be gradually changed, 
and a regular course of moderately increasing exercise be instituted and 



300 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

persevered in till that point is discovered at which such exercise \a 
recuperative rather than exhaustive, and then maintained. 

It may be well, before proceeding farther, to caution the reader against 
the advice of quacks, and point out what not to do. This may be 
summed up in the one single injunction, do nothing cruel. All such prac- 
tices as slitting the nose, scraping the cartilage, searing the glands, tiring 
the frontal and nasal bones, and injecting mustard, capsicum, vitriol, and 
corrosive sublimate up the nostrils, are but the hurtful devices of ignor- 
ance combined with brutality. 

If the disease is in its tirst stage when the horse is taken in hand for 
the purpose of employing remedial agencies, place him in a good, dry 
and airy stable, if in Summer, or in an open pasture where most of his 
food may be obtained by himself, observing the precautions already laid 
down. If in Winter, he should still have the dry stable, not too close, 
and supplied with clean litter, and care should l)e taken to guard him 
against severe cold and exposure to an}' sudden change. The matter of 
food may be regulated bj this : it must be nutritious without being 
inflammatory ; and the condition of the animal as to previous treatment 
and present condition of flesh must regulate the quantity, as also to somc^ 
extent the quality. Then prepare and administer the following medicine : 

No. 30. 1 Drachm powdered sulphate of camphor, 

4 Fluid di-achuis Fowler's solution of arsenic. 

Mix with linseed meal and syrup to form a ball, and give one of lik^ 
quantity each day for three days ; then omit a day ; then give the balls 
for three days again, and so on till a change for the better is perceptible 
or its failure is manifest. Meanwhile, swab out the nose every day with 
a solution of pyroligenous acid — using warm water, (as warm as the 
horse can well bear), and putting in suflScient of the acid at first to make 
the solution of medium strength. It should be a little increased from 
day to day ; but care must be taken not to make it too strong, as violent 
acid injections or swabbing solutions are calculated to do harm rather 
than good. A good mop for this purpose may be made by attaching soft 
rags, (old cotton cloth is best), to a light stick, two feet in length — so 
arranging the cloth as to have it project beyond the end of the stick to 
be inserted, to prevent any roughness that might abrade or scratch the 
membrane, and fastening very securely, to prevent its slipping off. 

If this treatment is found not to be efficacious, or if the disease has 
already developed into the second stage — ^the discharge more mucous, 
sticky, and stringy, with glands swollen and the membrane of the nose 
of a dark purple or leaden color — adopt the following treatment, and 
carry it out energetically and persistently : 



THE HORSE, DISEASES OF THE NASAL GLAXDS, ET'. 301 

Take from the neck vein from three to six quarts of blood, accord- 
mg as the horse may aj^pear feeble or plethoric. Make a gallon of 
very strong decoction or tea of tobacco leaves, which keep ready for use. 
Put enough of this into warm water, (as warm as the horse can well 
bear), and swab out his nostrils with it, as high up as jDossible, using 
mop as just directed. Then put a gill of this same strong tobacco tea 
into a pint of warm water, and drench him with the solution. There 
must be no uneasiness on account of the dreadful sickness which this 
■^vill produce. The tobacco is necessary thoroughly to relax the system 
and overcome fixed or chronic tendencies, and to counteract the influence 
of the glanderous poison. Swab out the nose every daj^ for eight or ten 
da}'s, and drench every third day for from two to four weeks, or until 
the discharge has ceased and the ulcers are perceptibly healing. 

So for the first two stages. If all these directions, (those as to food 
and care as well as for the administering of medicines), are faithfully 
carried out, a reasonable hope of success may be entertained. If the 
disease has passed into the third stage, however, no treatment can be 
confidently recommended. So doubtful is it as to whether an}'- remedial 
agencies will avail, that most veterinarians in the United States confi- 
dcntl}' d<5clare that the best thing to do is to kill the sufferer in the 
quickest and most humane way, and bury him deep in the ground, beyond 
the possibility of his contaminating the atmosphere with his decaying and 
poisonous carcass. This is made a matter of legislative enactment in 
England — severe penalties attaching to the keeping of glandered horses 
— and it is contended by some that the general safety of both animals 
and man require like legal enactments in this country ; but, as we have 
said, until he has passed into the third state, or where he seems to be 
suffering with both glanders and farcy, a good horse ought not to be sac- 
rificed. It cannot be too strongly urged, hoAvever, that no effort ought 
to be spared to prevent the spread of the contagion ; and the man 
who would expose a horse for sale, known to him to be glandered, but 
not apparent to a casual observer, ought to be confined in the State 
prison. 

A horse affected with tliis disease, in any stage, is dangerous to the 
man who handles him ; but he is doubly so, perhaps, when he has become 
a loathsome object in limbs and body as well as in head ; and under 
ordinary circumstances it is doubtless best to destroy him as quickly as 
possible. In case treatment is determined upon, nothing better than that 
prescribed for the second stage can be recommended. 

The reader's attention ought to be called to this fact: that there have 
been instances of a spontaneous cure of glanders — that is, of cures 
having taken place without the agency of remedial means used by man ; 



302 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOE. 

but all such cases may have been apparent rather than real — a mere sus. 
pension of the active powers of the poison — and they ought to be looked 
upon with suspicion. These may be resumed at some future time and 
with fatal result. 

It remains now but to suggest some precautionary measures to prevent 
t'ontiigion, in addition to those which have already been given. If a 
stable is known to have been used by a glandered horse, no other animal 
should be allowed to occupy it until the trough, the rack, and the walls 
have been thoroughly scraped and scoured with strong soap and warm 
Avater. Then take one pint of chloride of lime and dissolve it in two gal- 
Ions of water, with which thoroughly saturate every part that the horse's 
nose may have touched. Next, white-wash the walls inside. Then burn 
bridles, halters, buckets out of which he has drunk — whatever may have 
been about his head — and if any blanketing has been used have it care- 
fully cleansed by washing, or burn it up. 

II. Parcy. 

Causes — In treating of glanders and farcy there is a great diversity 
of opmion as to the relations in which they stand to each othetr — w^hich 
IS the antecedent, which the consequent ; but the most sensible view of 
the matter, and the one taken by the ablest veterinarians, is this : that 
the two are but different manifestions of the same disease, and that they 
might with propriety be so treated. Regarding them separately it is 
difficult to say which is the more acute form, wdiich the more chronic, as 
it is now generally conceded that a horse afflicted with what may seem at 
tirst a well-developed case of glanders may be presently laboring under 
confirmed farcy — the last state apparently worse than the first ; again, a 
case of farcy may assume the type to which the name glanders is aj)plied, 
and in this case also there seems to be a development of the first into a 
more hopeless disorder. 

This would be a matter, however, of no special consequence to the 
intelligent horse owner were it not that the confused notions of men 
concerning the two affections might chance to brmg him face to face with 
this difficulty : that, unable to eliminate the truth from the tangled 
statements of some who, entertaining diverse views, may take it upon 
themselves to advise, he may find himself halting between two opinions 
when it is of vital consequence that he should be doing something. Let 
him be assured that it is wholly unnecessary to trouble himself Avith nice 
questions as to the priority of either disease or the real difference 
between them ; the one important point for him is to be able to detect in 
the incipiency of an attack of either that one of tliem is present. 



THE HORSE, DISEASES OF THE NASAL GLANDS, ETC. 303 

Spealdng now of the farcy as a distinct disease, it is to ])e regarded as 
a general poisoned condition of the horse — the poison having its imme- 
diate origin in an ulcerated condition of the lymphatic glands ; and its 
remote origin in whatever tends to disorder these lymphatics. The 
remote causes are often found in constitutional or inherited tendencies, 
but more frequentlj^, no doubt, in neglect and abuse — some of the forms 
which these take on being overwork and under-feeding ; lack of the 
curry-comb and brush ; exposure to the foul atmosphere of dark, damp 
stables, and their accumulations of filth. 

The glands so affected are more numerous along the ja^vs, neck, and 
flanks than elsewhere near the skin. Some species of poison is taken 
into the system of the animal, which manifests itself by an enlargement 
of some of these glands into the hard, rounded lumps, called farci/-buds, 
or buttons, which presently secrete and discharge dangerous infectious 
matter. The absorbents whose office it is to remove useless particles 
from the body, take up from beneath the skin some of this virus ; they 
inflame with it and swell ; and by their connection with the veins give the 
latter a corded, swollen appearance. The poison, of course, finally 
reaches the veins and is mingled with the blood ; by the blood it is 
conveyed to every part of the system. Acting upon the valves of the 
veins — ^those little membranous sacs which assist in o-ivinof the blood a 
uniform tendency toAvards the heart — the poison creates new knots or 
buttons, and thus they increase until many portions of the skin are 
covered with putrid ulcers 

The first existence of an ulcerous condition may not be upon any \asible 
portion of the body. Minute poisonous ulcerations may arise in the 
recesses of the nose, and discharge so slightly as to escape observation 
until the general system is thoroughl}'^ inoculated with the virus. 

It is, however, extremely capricious in its manifestations ; probably 
owing more to the peculiarities of different animals than to any difference 
as to either immediate or remote causes of the disease itself. It occa- 
sionally takes on a lingering form, and will continue for months and 
years ; again it will run its course and kill the horse in an incredibly 
short time. 

It is extremely contagious in all its stages, and is communicable not 
only to other brutes, but to man. 

How to know it — it is difficult to give in few words such directions 
as enable the unprofessional and inexperienced reader readily to detect 
this disease in its inwpiency, and to distinguish, in its somewhat advanced 
state, between it and some other diseases which have, occasionally similar 
manifestations. It often perplexes by the different forms it assumes ; 
but close attention to the following particulars and a wide-awake intierest, 



304 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

that leads one to observ^e changes and peculiar conditions will probably 
suffice : 

In some cases the horse will droop for many days before the appear- 
ance of either buds or corded veins ; the appetite is impaired ; the coat 
is staring, or rough and unpleasant to the sight ; his mouth is hot ; his 
thirst great and difficult to quench ; the urine is highly colored ; the hair 
comes off easily ; and he evinces then the symptoms of a generally 
deranged condition. 

Sometimes the horse will appear to be perfectly well at night, and next 
morning one leg, usually the hind leg, will be fearfully swollen, hot 
with fever, and almost without the power of mo\dng. 

At other times the head will swell, the muzzle, particularly, will be 
enlarged, and an offensive discharge proceed from the nose. 

Again, this tendency to the swelling of the leg is accompanied by 
cracks at the heels, leading the inexperienced to mistake it for ordinary 
*' swelled leos" or for "grease." 

When taken by inoculation, (the poison having been received from 
another animal or from trough, stable, or curry-comb), it is apt to 
manifest itself in its earliest stages by shivering, followed by heat of 
body, a frequent and hard pulse, dullness, accelerated breathing, and 
rapid elevation of temperature. These attacks may speedily prove fatal. 

In all these cases, the poison has been worldng, but is not yet 
outwardly manifest. Generally the first stage of unmistakable local 
manifestation is a swelling of the lymphatics, a development of the 
"farcy-bud." A single bud will sometimes appear near the pastern 
joint and run up in an uneven knotty form. They usually appear, 
however, along the sides of the neck or iiiside the legs, and are rounded, 
with an elevated edge, and a pale surface. These presently burst and 
discharge a watery fluid for some time, when a change takes place and 
the discharges become more mattery and offensive, and are mixed with 
blood. They frequently increase in number until the neck, shoulders, 
and legs are almost entirely covered with them — sometimes almost the 
whole body becomes a putrid loathsome mass. In this last case there are 
no longer any buds or knots, as the veins have become so generally 
injured as not to show special prominences at the valvular points. 

Occasionally it will be found that the buds will not ulcerate, but 
become hard and difficult to remove. This indicates that the progress of 
the disease is suspended ; but the poison is in the systerh, and if steps 
are not taken at once to eradicate the seeds of the malady, it will in 
time break out and destroy the horse. 

When it rises along the spine, as it occasionally does, it is to be 
considered malignant and very dangerous, particularly to those horses 



THE HORSE, DISEASES OF THE NASAL GLANDS ETC. 305 

that are fat and full-blooded — the disease in this case being most 
probably the result of infection. 

To enable one to distinguish it from those diseases for which it is 
sometimes mistaken, the following directions, if closely observed, will be 
sufficient : 

It differs from surfeit in this : that the buds are generally higher than 
the surfeit tumors, more knotty, not so broad, and are found principally 
on the inside of the limb and not on the outside. 

The sudden swellings of the legs, head, or chest are characterized by 
heat and tenderness that do not accompany other enlargements ; and the 
farcy may be distinguished from grease or swelled legs by this : that in 
grease there is usually a peculiar tightness, glossiness, and redness of the 
skin, with scurfiness, discharging cracks, and a singular spasmodic catch- 
ing up of the leg. In farcy the swelling is more sudden — the leg that is 
apparentl}'^ sound at night is found in the morning swollen to an 
enormous size. It is owing to a sinmltaneous inflammation of all the 
a]^sorl)ents of the liml) ; but instead of the redness and glossiness of sur- 
feit there will be l)urning heat without outward manifestation, and the 
leg will be peculiarly tender, while the body will be generally feverish. 

It may be known from that local dropsy of the cellular membrane pro- 
ducing an enlargement l)eneath the thorax called water-farcy, by simply 
observing that in water-farcy there is general weakness unaccompanied 
l)y inflammation . 

What to do — The treatment must of course be directed primaril}^ to 
the removal of the blood poison and to the restoring of the assimilative 
powers of the digestive and circulating organs. It must be both general 
and local ; as the vital functions are to be restored to their normal condi- 
tion at the same time as the outward manifestations of the poison are 
removed. The buds must be dispersed and the ulcers healed b}^ active 
external applications, since the powerful internal remedies must be more 
or less inoperative while these receptacles of poisonous matter furnish a 
constant supply to the absorbents, to be carried by the various organs of 
circulation to all parts of the body. 

The first and most necessary thing to do is to exercise a wise discrim- 
ination as to the stage of the disease. If found to be in its incipiency — 
few buds having appeared, and being slow to spread ; no foul discharo-e 
from the nose ; no sudden swellings and violent heat — ^the followino- 
treatment may be adopted with every hope of success : 

Pay particular attention to feeding, and to keeping the stable, (if nec- 
essary to have the animal confined), clean, dry, and comfortable. The 
food should be easy of digestion, but nourishing, and especially of such 



206 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

a character as to keep the bowels regular. Bran, oats, long forage, 
(green if possible), are good ; and an occasional mash of boiled carrots or 
turnips mixed with bran or shorts, to which a table-spoonful of salt is 
added, will be found beneficial. He should have moderate daily exercise ; 
and as much good pure water as he will take should be given him. If 
the food given does not have the effect of keeping the bowels open, give 
an occasional mild purgative compounded as follows : 

No. 31. 3 Dniclims finely powdered aloes, 

1 Drachm ground ginger. 

Stir these ingredients thoroughly together ; then use sufficient soft 
soap to make a paste that can be rolled into a ball. Wrap this in thin 
paper, and give by elevating his head and thrusting it into his throat. 

Give the following tonic, to stinmlate the digestive and secretive 
functions : 

No. 32. 6 Oz. powdered sulphate of iron, 

6 Oz. rosin, 
3 Oz. gentian, 
3 Oz. ground ginger. 

Mix thoroughly, divide into twelve powders, and give one night and 
morning. When these powders are exhausted, make up the same 
mixture, with the exception of the rosin, which, by too long continuance 
is apt to affect the kidneys unduly, and give as before, night and 
morning. 

To remove the buttons and ulcers, take a large stick or pencil of lunar 
caustic or of caustic potash, and with it burn out the central portion of 
each bud, and cauterize each ulcer. When convenient to obtain what is 
called a farrier's "budding iron," the work may be more expeditiously 
done by heating the iron to redness, and, after rubbing it on something 
to clear off the scales, inserting the point hito every bud and ulcer — 
remembering that it must be done moderately, and not so as to destroy 
the tissues. When these burnt places begin to slough out, and look 
pale, foul, and spongy, with thin matter, wash them frequently with a 
solution of 1 drachm of corrosive sublimate in 1 oz. rectified spirits. 
When the wounds begin to look red, and the bottom of them is even and 
firm, while they discharge a thick white or yellow matter, use some 
simple ointment. 

If the disease is plainly in an advanced stage — ^the buttons and ulcers 
numerous and widely spread over the body ; the thirst great and hard to 
satisfy ; signs of glanderous ulcers on the mucous membrane of the nose ; 
the hair, where the sores have not invaded the skin, staring and sasy tw 



THE HOUSE, DISEASES OF THE NASAL GLANDS, ETC. 307 

'ome oif ; the general appearance filthy and loathsome — the following 
severe treatment should be adopted and perseveringly carried out : 

In the first place, observe all the p\recautions as to diet and the state of 
the bowels previously recommended, being careful to guard against 
(extensive purging, for this Avill tend rather to reduce the disease to a 
lower stage, and to retard recovery. 

Bleed at once, taking from two to four quarts of blood from the neck 
vein, according as the body is more or less inflamed. 

Take a gill of very strong solution of tobacco and pour it into a pint 
of warm water, and drench with it. Repeat this dose every third day 
until a change for the better has evidently taken place. If the feverish 
state continues he should be bled again, taking a like quantity as at first, 
within a week or ten days. The practice of bleeding, as insisted upon 
by some veterinarians, cannot be recommended ; but there are cases in 
which it may be employed with the greatest advantage. In farcy, it 
cannot be said to remove the poison to any great extent, though it does 
in some measure have this effect ; but the vitiated condition of the fluid 
seems to render it turgid and slow, and to produce an unnatural disten- 
isiou of the veins and capillaries, which bleeding partially relieves — 
possibly by both diminishing the quantity a little and by a reaction which 
follows the shock given to the organs of circulation by the act of blood- 
letting. 

The tobacco drench is a powerful medicine in counteracting the poison 
in the system ; and while the dose recommended will make the horse very 
sick, from its well-known nauseating properties, its effects are not to be 
feared. 

On those days which intervene between the doses of tol)acco tea, the 
tonic powder. No. 32, may be given as directed for tne milder stage of 
farcy, omitting the rosin. 

When the poison has been long at work without betraying its presence, 
till all at once the horse becomes lame, his legs swell, violent general 
lieat sets in, large and vicious looking buds appear suddenly and presently 
])reak, while a stinking discharge takes place from the nose — corded veins 
and buttons appearing in some instances along the sijine — the case mav 
well be looked upon as hopeless ; jlnd if there are other animals that are 
in danger of taking the affection from him, it is doubtless best, as is 
generally recommended by English veterinarians, for even much milder 
forms, to kill the horse and bury him beyond the reach of all danger to 
others. In this stage of the disease he is dangerous to man, and no 
one ought to be required to take the risk of handling him. 

Lastly, every precaution should be taken to guard against the spread 
of the contagion. When a horse is known to be affected 'svith farcy, no 
20 



308 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

time should be lost in cleansing the stable where he has been confined — 
washing the trough, rack and walls thoroughly, — saturating them aftei 
that with a strong solution of chloride of lime, (one pint of chloride to 
two gallons of Avater), and then white-washing the walls inside. Curry- 
comb, blanket — whatever may have the poison adhering to it— had 
better be burned. 

III. Distemper 

Causes. — This is an epidemic disease, occurring in young horses, gen- 
erally, and when it once breaks out all the animals in the stable are likely 
to be infected with it, unless they have already had it. Colts and young 
horses will take it from older ones more easily than older ones from the 
young. 

If it is not actually generated by filth and uncleanness in the stables, 
the disease is certainly aggravated by causes producing miasma and bad 
air in the stables. Therefore cleanliness is essential not only as a means 
of preventing the disease, but in rendering it of a mild type when it 
breaks out 

Horses will contract the disease from others when at a considerable 
distance. It is supposed to be communicated both by actual contact and 
also from germs proceeding from the breath. Hence when once it breaks 
out, at the first symptoms, isolate the sick animal or animals, fumigate 
the stable thoroughly and daily. 

To do this fill the stable with tobacco smoke, both the stable from 
whence the sick horses have been taken, and the place where they are 
confined during treatment. Let the smoke be so thick as to become 
quite inconvenient. Make all the animals inhale as much as possible. 
Wash every part of the stable, and especially the feeding places and hay 
racks, with a strong decoction of tobacco stems, using for the purpose 
cheap, rank tobacco. Keep powdered tobacco leaves in the mangers of 
all the horses. This being, early attended to its spread may be generally 
arrested. 

How to know it. — The disease has three stages. In the early stage of 
the disease there is a dry, hacking cough, and there will be noticed a 
discharge from the nose, first of a thin, watery fluid succeeded by a 
thicker, jDurulent discharge of a whitish color. 

The next stajje of the disease shows itself in a swellins: of the throat. 
The salivary glands, which at first were inflamed, are now closed, and pus 
is being formed. At length an abscess is formed. 

The third stage is the suppurative stage, in which the abscess breaks ; 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 309 

sometimes there are two. From this time on, the. animal is in a fair way 
to mend, and every means should be taken to promote the discharge. In 
bad cases the suppuration may continue for weeks, and in extreme cases 
it may continue for months. 

From first to last there is a fever. The pulse is quickened and hard. 
The appetite fails, both from the fever and inability to swallow. As the 
fever increases the eyes become dull and glassy : the hair is dry, will not 
lie close, looks dead ; and the animal stands with its head drooped, and 
the whole appearance is stupid. 

What to do. — In some cases, bleeding will be indicated. This, how- 
ever, should not be allowed except under the advice of a competent 
veterinary surgeon or physician. If the animal is fat, or if there are in- 
dications of blood poisoning, from a quart to three pints of blood may be 
taken from the neck vein. The animal must be warmly clothed and kept 
in a thoroughly well ventilated but comfortable stable. Let the food be 
light, but nourishing. Mashes made of oat-meal and bran ; also boiled 
oats ; oat-meal gruel, and hay-tea should be given for drink. Give the 
following : 

No. 33. 1 table-spoonful pulverized gum myrrh, 

1 table-spoonful gun powder, 
1 table-spoonful lard, 

1 table-spoonful soft-soap, 

2 table-spoonfuls tar. 

Mix, and put a spoonful of this mixture on a long, narrow paddle 
down the throat twice a day, so it will lodge about the glands of the 
throat. 

Let all drink and food have the chill taken off before giving it. If 
there is considerable fever and the tongue is coated, give a little cream of 
tartar in the drink. If the limbs are cold, bandage them and hand rub 
to promote circulation. Give once a day in the food the following : 

No. 34. 2 or three ounces flower of sulphur, 

1 ounce resin. 

To be mixed in the food if it will eat, or in the drink. Give also three 
ounces of sulphur per day, if the animal will take it. Wash the neck 
two or three times a day witli a decoction of tobacco as hot as the animal 
will bear it. If these remedies are taken in time and faithfully applied, 
they will often prevent any tumor from forming. If the tumor forms, 
then every means must be employed to cause it to suppurate. It will 
then be dangerous to scatter it. If the bowels are obstructed, remove 
the contents of the rectum by the following injection : 




310 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Ho, 35, 4 Drachms powdered aloes. 

1 Drachm common salt, 

2 Drachms hot water. 

Mix, and inject when blood-warm. 

Use every possible means to promote the formation of pus and its dis- 
charge. Common distemper and strangles are similar in some of thei^ 
symptoms, and one may run in the other. Stimulate the swelling with 
the following : 

No. 36. Two parts spirits of turpentine, 

One part laudanum, 
One part spirits of camphor. 

Apply this three times a day with a 
brush until soreness is produced. Af- 
ter each application keep the parts 
warm with folds of flannel, kept in 
EIGHT-TAILED BANDAGE. placc with au cight-tailcd bandage, a 

piece of flannel having three slits 
cut in the ends for tying, and long enough to go round the throat and tie 
over the top of the head. 

If this does not cause the tumor to form, prepare a jDoultice as follows : 

No. 37. 1 Part powdered slippery elm, 

1 Part poplar bark, 
1 Part ground flax seed. 

Moisten with vinegar and water equal parts, quilt between two folds of 
cloth and apply to as large a surface as possible. When the tumor has 
formed pus and is nearly ripe, which may be known by a soft place where 
it is working its Avay to the surface, open it with a knife with a round- 
pointed blade, and if necessary increase the opening with a button-pointed 
bistoury, to allow free exit of matter. It will give almost immediate re- 
lief. Then apply to the swollen glands night and morning, the following : 

No. 38, 4 Ounces spirits of camphor, 

3 Ounces pyroligneous acid, 
1 Pint neat's foot oil. 

Mix. If the acid is not to be easily obtained use strong cider vinegar. 
Prepare the following powders : 

No. 39. 2 Ounces powdered gentian, 

1 Ounce powdered golden seal, 
1 Ounce powdered pleurisy root, 
1 Pound powdered liquorice root. 

Mix, and divide into six powders, to be given in the food night and 
morning. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 311 

IV. Nasal Gleet. 

Causes, —This affliction sometimes follows distemper and stranorles and 
is one of the attendants on glanders, sometimes running into it. It is 
sometimes caused by a chronic affection of the schneiderian surfaces. It 
is caused sometimes by the relaxing and enlarging of the ducts commu- 
nicating between the cavities of the liiouth and nose by disease, allowino- 
the semi-liquid food and its juices to pass into the nostrils. This is true 
chronic gleet, and the discharge is tinged with what the animal eats. It 
is in one of its forms a suppuration of the mucus membrane lining in the 
facial sinuses, producing distortion and a terribly offensive discharge, 
which may have been produced by a blow on the face. In bad cases the 
cheapest way is to end the animal's misery by killing. 

How to know it. — Discharge is not always present, neither is it uniform. 
Sometimes during fair weather it will be discontinued. The discharge is 
a thick yelloAV mucus tinged with green, if the food be grass, or with the 
color of the food. If it becomes purulent, that is pus, matter, and 
tinged with blood, it may end in ulceration of the cartilages of the nose, 
and in glanders. If the discharge is confined to the left nostril, is tena- 
cious, elastic, accumulates around the edges of the nose, if there is 
enlargement of the lymphatic submaxillary gland, under and on the side 
of the jaw, it is cheaper to kill the horse, or else call in a surgeon, since 
for the proper treatment of the disease the trephine should be used, 
by which a circular piece of the bone may be taken out to facilitate 
treatment. 

How to Cure. — In mild cases look for decayed molar (grinding) teeth ; 
if found, remove them. Look for swelling of the frontal bone, produced 
by bruises. Put the horse where he may be comfortable, let his diet 
be light, but soft ; fresh grass in Summer, with good food. Inject the 
nasal passages thoroughly with the following : 

No. 40. 1 Ounce bayberry bark, 

1 Pint boiling water. 

When cool strain through a close linen or white flannel cloth, and inject 
daily. 

Prepare the following : 

No. 41. 1 Part Grains of Paradise, 

1 Part white mustard seed, 
1 Part powdered sulphur, 
1 Part powdered charcoal. 
Mix, and give one ounce daily in the food. 



312 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Give occasionally in gruel the following : 

No. 42. i^ Ounce balsam copaiba, 

2 Drachms sweet spirits of niter. 

This with warm clothing and nutritious food will suffice for mild cases, 
Where the trephine is not to be used, treatment must be persisted in until 
the animal is cured. 

V. Nasal Polypus. 

Polypus may form upon any of the cavities of the body which com- 
municate with the air, being peculiar to the mucous membrane. These 
grown to such size as seriously to impair breathing, are accompanied some- 
times by discharge of mucus which is pure. That is, it is thrown out as 
soon as formed, and therefore it is not fetid. 

What to do. — If the polypus which is generally pear-shaped and at 
tached to the membrane of the nose, by a small neck, can be made visible 
by causing the horse to cough, it may be removed by a ligature or a 
pair of polypus scissors by any physician, if no veterinary surgeon is 
at hand. 

When the polypus is entirely concealed from view, tracheotomy may 
have to be employed before an examination can be made, since the poly- 
pus may have gone so far as to oppress the breathing. Thus in all cases 
of polypus, unless it be so low that a ligature can be employed to strang- 
ulate it at the neck, it is altogether better to call in the aid of a veter- 
inary surgeon. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DROPSICAL AFFECTIONS. 



«. DROPSY OF THE HEART. II. DROPSY OP THE BRAIN. III. DROPSY OF THE CHEST. 

IV. DROPSY OF THE SKI!( OF THE CHEST. V. DROPSY OF THE SCROTUM. VI. 

DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN. 



I. Dropsy of the Heart; 

Causes. — The pericardium or membranous covering of the heart is 
subject to inflammation ; by this inflammation and consequent obstructed 
circulation in the minute vessels that supply it an effusion takes place, 
and either thickens the walls of the pericardium itself, and thus contracts 
or compresses the heart, or it is deposited in the cavity of the pericardium 
in quantities varying from a pint to a gallon. This diseased condition is 
generally found in connection with dropsy of the chest or abdomen. 

How to know it. — In the early stages of the disease there is a ijuickened 
and irreo-ular respiration, with a bounding action of the heart. As the 
fluid increases the action of this organ becomes feeble and fluttering. 
There is a peculiar expression of anxiety and alarm on the countenance 
of the animal. If he does not die of the disease before the pericardium 
is filled, violent palpitations and throbbings characterize the advanced 
stao-e. The breathinir becomes difficult, and when the head is raised 
there is a tendency to faint. 

I What to do. — If it is observed while there is yet a painful state of the 
pericardium by reason of inflammation — profuse effusion not havmg 
taken place — the first thing is to reduce the inflammation a;id allay the 
pain, and thus forestall the further accumulation of the fluid. For this 
purpose relieve constipation, which is usually found as an accompaniment, 
by moderate doses of salts, or of oil. Then give the following draught : 

313 



314 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 43. 1 Oz. nitrate of potasli, 

15 Drops tincture of aconite, 

1 Pint of water. 

The animal must be kept comfortable, according to tbe season, and 
have a plentiful supply of fresh air and cold water. 

If there are no indications of relief within four hours, give the following 
draught : 

Ko. 44. 4 Oz. solution of acetate of ammonia, 

10 Drops tincture of aconite, 
12 Oz of water. 

Repeat this after eight hours, and then leave off the aconite, but con- 
tinue to give, at intervals, the acetate of ammonia in water. 

If the disease has reached an advanced stage, and the cavity of the 
pericardium is largely filled with water, it is scarcely to be hoped that the 
animal may be saved ; but even in that case the course here prescribed 
should be adopted, unless there is some more general disorder under such 
treatment as will render it unnecessary or objectionable, 

II. Dropsy of the Brain. 

Causes. — The remote cause of this disease (known also as hydrocepha- 
lus), is some constitutional disorder of the brain, or of its membranous 
covering — chiefly, as is believed, a scrofulous tendency. The immediate 
causes, or the excitants to its development, are various, as castration, foot 
puncture, staggers, acute diseases of the stomach, defective nutrition, etc. 

How to know it. — At first an unnatural sleepiness will aiDpear, with ap- 
parent unconsciousness and a tendency to reel when moving on foot. 
The pupil of the eye is perceptibly dilated ; the animal breathes in a 
hard and grunting way ; he tosses his head about and throws it upward 
or backward, as though in much pain. When down, with neck lying 
prone, as is often the case, he will sometimes raise his head, then drop it 
spasmodicalh^, beating it upon the ground. If unrelieved, convulsions 
finally set in, and death ensues. 

V/hat to do. — If the head is hot with fever, denoting an acute attack, 
sponge frequently with cold water, and see that the bowels are kept mod- 
erately open. If there is decided constipation, as is sometimes the case, 
use an injection of soap-suds at intervals, until the bowels are moved. 
Then give the following in doses of 2 ounces, morning and evening; 

No. 45. 4 Oz. fluid extract of buchu, 

2 Oz. iodide of potassium, 
6 Oz. water. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 315 

Continue this, keeping the horse from labor and as quiet as possible, 
until all, symptoms of feverishness disappear from about the head, and 
the unnatural torpor no longer manifests itself. 

III. Dropsy of the Chest. 

Causes. — This disease, (called also hydrothorax ) , is frequently .the 
eequel of pleurisy, and is the result of the inflamed condition of the large 
surfaces of the covering of the heart and lungs. The absorbents are in- 
adequate to the taking up of the abundant effusion, so that the chest is 
tilled, the lungs are pressed upon and death by suffocation follows. 

How to know it. — The impaired appetite and chilliness of the ears and 
legs which characterize the last stage of pleurisy, change when it is about 
to assume a dropsical form, and the horse becomes more lively, his appe- 
tite returns, his legs and ears become warm, the eyes look more cheerful, 
and his manner is every way more encouraging. A few hours after this 
first apparent improvement, however, the breathing becomes labored, the 
muscles quiver and twitch, and the nostrils flap. The animal stands 
with the legs wide apart, head low, or resting upon something, neck 
stretched out, eyes staring, and the motion of the flanks increased, even 
brought into forcible heaving action. The pulse is more frequent, but 
small, irregular and fluttering ; and the nose, ears and legs become cold 
again. His weakness rapidly increases, and if not relieved the animal 
dies, sometimes within a week, though he may linger much longer. 

The disease may be detected in its early stage, or immediately after the 
horse has shown signs of relief from pleurisy, by placing the ear to the 
chest, near the breast bone. If the dropsical effusion has set in, the ear 
will detect no sound, nor will any be detected until the ear is placed high 
up the shoulder or flank, past the middle of the ribs. Holding it here, 
at the point where the breathing is first audible, and directing a slap to be 
made on the other side with the open hand, the examiner will hear a dull, 
splashing noise as though of disturbed water : and there need be no 
longer any doubt as to the nature of the case. 

What to do. — In the first place adopt the use of diuretics and laxatives, 
that the various organs may be assisted in carrying off the accumulated 
fluid. For the first day give every six or eight hours, the following: 

No. 46. 4 Drachms powdered nitrate of potash, 

1 Fluid ounce tincture of cardamoms, 
10 Oz. water. 

Mix the potash and water, and when a clear solution is formed add the 
tincture, and give from the bottle twice or thrice in the twenty-four hours. 



316 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

On the second day, two or three times a day give : 

No. 47. 2 Fluid ounces solution of acetate of ammonia, 

1 Oz. nitrous ether. 

Mix with water and administer from the bottle. 

If this treatment does not seem to be giving relief at the end of threo 
to five days, draw off the liquid by tapping the chest. It is a simple and 
safe operation and will give relief unless treatment has been too long de- 
layed, so that there is an accumulation of substances that will obstruct 
the mouth of the canula and prevent the flow of the liquid. The instru- 
ment to be used, the trocar, armed with a stylet, must not be large, as 
drawing off the water too suddenly would prove fatal. The smallest of 
those made for human practice is large enough, but it must be of greater 
length. Having the instrument, and that in good condition, select a place 
behind and about on a level with the elbow, and take a small portion of 
skin, between the eighth and ninth ribs, which must be pulled forward. 
Then make a narrow slit with a sharp knife upon the place which the 
skin originally covered. Still holding the skin gathered forward, insert 
the armed trocar into this opening and press it with such force as suffices 
to push it gradually onward until resistance ceases. It is then within the 
cavity of the thorax, and the stilet must be withdrawn, whereupon the 
water usually begins to flow out. Take all the water you can get if the 
horse will suffer so much to be withdrawn ; but if at any time during the 
operation he shows signs of faintness, withdraw the trocar and let the 
skin fly back. It is necessary always to have the skin drawn forward so 
that on returning it may cover the wound lest the air may enter the chest 
from the outside, which would prove quickly fatal. In an hour or two 
after the first attempt a second may be made but the trocar must be in- 
serted in a new place, as the first wound might be irritated by an effort 
to re-insert the instrument. . 

There is sometimes apprehension lest this operation may injure an 
artery by apjoroaching too near the posterior border of a rib, but this is 
groundless, as the artery is protected by the groove through which it 
travels. 

If the trocar is properly inserted, and no water flows, the case may be 
regarded as well nigh hopeless. A whalebone may be inserted to break 
away the pus or whatever substance may line the thorax, but this is not 
known to have ever resulted in any good. 

If there is fluid on both sides, it should be drawn off on both sides at 
the same time, to prevent pressure upon the delicate divisions of the 
chest. The fluid is generally confined, however, to one side. 

The operator should stay by the animal during the slow abstraction of 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 317 

the water, so that ui^on any sign of faintness he may withdraw the trocar 
and prevent death through sudden colkipse. 

After the water is pretty thoroughly drawn off, be careful to give the 
patient as much nourishing and carefully prepared food as he will con- 
sume ; and the following tonic ball should be administered night and 
morning for several times on alternate days : 

No. 48. 1 Drachm iodide of irou, 

>i Gr.iin strychnia, 
>i Drachm sulphate of zinc. 
4 Drachms extract of gentian. 

IV. Dropsy of the Skin of the Chest. 

Causes. — This is an effusion of fluid underneath the skin of the chest ; 
and it is a sequel to various diseases — beginning generally to manifest 
itself only after the animal is reduced to a debilitated state. It is most 
likely to occur in the Spring and in the Fall of the year, at the time of 
changing the coat. 

How to Know it. — A swelling appears on the chest and somewhat 
between the forelegs.; and its dropsical character may be known by its 
yielding to pressure of the fingers with a fluctuating feeling. 

What to do. — If it is the accompaniment of any more general disorder 
the first thing, of course, is to remove that primary disease. Meanwhile 
if the fluid accumulates in any considerable quantity, draw it off with the 
trocar ; and if there is not too much soreness, subject the part to regular 
and moderately vigorous friction occasionally for some days. 

Diuretics are always good in these dropsical complaints. No. 45 is 
good. It is important that the bowels be kept regular, and that good 
nutritious food, as boiled oats or boiled barley, with wheat bran, be given 
regularly, and in sufiicient quantity to nourish well. Give 4 drs. of 
gentian eveiy other day for a week or two. 

It must be remembered that these medicines are to be given only in 
case there is no treatment in j)rogress for a more general disorder, 

V. Dropsy of the Scrotum. 

Causes. — This is usually found in connection with dropsy of the abdo- 
men, and arises from either local injury and consequent inflammation, 
followed by effusion, or by sympathy from that cause which has produced 
the general abdominal trouble. 

How to Know it. — It is readily known by a chronic distension of tho 
part, except when mistaken for scrotal hernia or rupture, from which it 



318 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

may be distinguished by its not passing back with a sudden movement, 
when pressed with the fingers, but with a steady current and gradual 
diminution. 

What to do. — If it is associated with dropsy of the abdomen treat that 
first, and until it is relieved, without which being done it is unnecessary 
to attempt the cure of the more local and dependent disorder. In any 
event, find out, if possible, and remove the primary cause. Next see to 
it that the bowels of the patient are kept moderately active ; and as in 
the case of dropsy of the abdomen, give sufficient of diuretic No. 45, to 
act freely upon the kidneys. 

If the fluid has accumulated in any considerable quantity, so as to 
render the scrotum painful by distension, draw it off with a fine armed 
trocar, or a hypodermic syringe, and support the parts 'vvith an elastic 
bandage. 

VI. Dropsy of the Abdomen. 

Causes. — This is a collection of water in the abdomen which is gener- 
ally the result of chronic inflammation of the peritoneum, a tough, white 
membrane which lines the abdomen and embraces tiie bowels in its folds. 
When this inflammation has assumed a chronic condition, the peritoneum 
secretes a watery fluid, because of long obstructed circulation, which fills 
the cavity, and unless attended to will finally cause death. 

Frequently it follows injuries of the abdominal walls, when the perito- 
neum has been subjected to violence, and is associated with local inflam- 
mation of the muscular tissues, from which effusion is directed inward. 

Sometimes it arises from obstructed circulation caused by diseases of 
the liver, lungs or heart, and again from a poor, watery state of the 
blood, superinduced by exhaustion or by scanty and innutritions food. 

It is more frequently found in old than in young and vigorous animals. 

How to know it. — Generally, a low state of health precedes the more 
unmistakable manifestations ; there is thirst and loss of appetite ; the 
pulse is hard and small ; the membrane of the nose is pale ; the mouth 
is dry ; the head droops ; there is a condition of weakness and languor ; 
and there are some signs of heart and liver diseases ; pressure upon the 
abdomen is so painful as to cause a groan. Sometimes there is local 
dropsy of the sheath, legs and breast, as well as of the belly. The 
bowels are apt to be constipated, but are sometimes irregular ; and the 
coat is loose and staring. 

When the water has beguft to fill the cavity, the horse manifests a de- 
sire to lie down and remain long in one position ; there is a gradual 
enlargement of the abdomen, and as the fluid increases there is increased 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 319 

difficulty in breathing. In tlie chronic stages of the disease, the progress 
is slow ; but the belly becomes more and more baggy ; and in some in- 
stances the hair of the tail comes away easily or drops out, showing that 
the skin and capillary glands of that part of the body are affected. 

The presence of water, when it has collected in any considerable quan- 
tity, may be detected hy placing the ear to the abdomen and having some 
one slap the horse on the opposite side with the open palm. 

In mares, this enlargement of the belly is sometimes mistaken for a 
pregnant condition ; but it may be readily distinguished by a fluctuating 
feeling which follows a pressure upon the parts with the fingers, a sort of 
€uid motion, as of Avater forcibly displaced. 

What to do. — If it is known to proceed from local injuries, or from 
diseases of the vital organs, it is scarcely necessary to adopt any course 
of treatment, unless, indeed, the iDrimary disease can itself be removed; 
l:>ut when it depends upon inflammation of the peritoneum, or w^hen it 
results from bad or deficient food and unwholesome surroundings, place 
the horse in a good, dry and well-ventilated stall, feed him generously, 
and give him the folloAving tonic ball, night and morning : 

Ko. 49. 1 Oz. powdered digitalis, 

a Oz. hulphate of iron. 

Mix with rnucilage and a spoonful of linseed meal to form a ball of 
sufficient firmness for handling. 

It is important that the kidnej's should be kept active, and the follow- 
'ng diuretic must be used for that purpose : 

No. 50. 2 Pounds so«.p, 

2 Pounds nitrate ofpotash, 

3 Pounds rosin, 

2 Pounds Venice turpentine, 
}i Pint oil of turpentine. 

Melt the soap and rosin slowly together, and stir in the other ingredi- 
ents while the former mixture is cooling. Make it into 2-ounce balls 
with linseed meal, and give one at a time as often as necessary to keep 
up a somewhat copious action of the kidneys. 

If at any time the water accumulates in a great quantity, draw it off 
by means af a fine trocar, plunged into the most dependent or lowest 
part of the distended abdomen. 



CHAPTER V. 



DISEASES OP THE THROAT, CHEST AND LUNGS. 



I. CHEST-FOUNDER. II. BRONCHITIS. III. PNEUMONIA, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE 

LUNGS. IV. CONSUMPTION. V. PLEURISY. VI. COLDS. VII. ENLARGED GLANDS. 

VIII. SWELLED THROAT, OR LARYNGITIS. IX. CHRONIC COUGH. X. MALIGNANT 

EPIDEMIC, XI. DIFFICULTY OF BREATHING. r- XII. BROKEN WIND, — BELLOWS, — 

HEAVES. XIII. INFLUENZA. XIV. PINK EYE. XV. BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE. 

XVI. STRANGLES. XVII, SPASMODIC ACTION OF THE GLOTTIS AND EPIGLOTTIS. 



I. Chest-Pounder. 



This when it is not soreness of the muscles from hard work, is rheu- 
matism in its acute form. Sometimes it is caused by lesion, or straining 
of the muscles or the tendons connected with them. 

Causes- — It may be brought on by suddenly allowing the horse to 
become chilled after heating, giving large drafts of cold water when 
warm, or driving him into cold water up to his belly when heated. 

How to know it. — The horse is dull ; his coat may be staring ; he 
is stiff, and moves unwillingly. Sometimes the soreness extends to the 
limbs ; usually does from sympathy. There is fever in the parts affected 
and accelerated pulse, the latter from 70 to 80 beats in a minute. Also, 
sometimes profuse sweating and heaving at the flanks, but the legs will 
remain warm. The parts affected may be more or less swollen, but 
always tender to the touch. 

What to do. — Clothe the horse warmly, and put him where he may 
be kept so. If the animal is fat, and full of blood ; if there is evident 
determination of blood, bleed moderately, say a pint from the neck vein. 
320 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



321 



We never, however, advise bleeding, except by a veterinary surgeon or 
physician who knows his business. Wash the throat in warm salt and 
water. Relieve the bowels as soon as possible by an injection of soap 
suds, if the rectum be impacted. Give as a laxative 4 drachms Barba- 
does aloes. Pulverize and mix into a ball with molasses and linseed meal 
to form a mass or give the following : 



No. 51. 



>i Oz. ground ginger, 
1 Drachm tartar emetic, 
1 riut salt and water. 



Mix and give as warm as the horse can swallow it. As a rule the 
horse being thoroughly physicked will get better ; if not, apply a mild 
blister. 



No. 52. 



1 Oz. powdered cantharides, 
8 Oz. lard oil. 



Heat to blood heat and mix thoroughly. Shave the hair from the 
breast, wash with warm vinegar and apply the mixture rubbing it well in. 
When the blisters rise dress with a plaster of mutton tallow. 




A FIT SUBJECT FOR FOUNDER OR BRONCHITIS. 

II. Bronchitis. 

Causes. — Exposure of a heated and steaming horse to chill, or over 
exertion, and leaving the horse in the stable, when the system is quite 
relaxed. Riding to town and leaving a horse in the cold and wind while 
the owner is making himself comfortable. There is first a cold, enlarged 
glands and swelled throat. The inflammation extends down from the 



322 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



larynx through the trachea into the bronchial tubes and air passages of 
the lungs, and ends sometimes in confirmed and incurable bronchitis. 

How to know it. — In the acute stage there is difficulty and rapidity 
of breathing, from the filling of the membranes with blood and the con- 
sequent diminishing of the size of the tube. After a time mucus is 
formed and increases the difficulty of breathing and causes a cough. The 
pulse will be 60 or 70 beats per minute ; the cough will become hard and 
dry, and the sound in the throat will be rattling, and after the secretion 
of mucus a gurgling sound will be given similar to that made in blowing 
soap bubbles. In extreme cases the breathing becomes extremely labori- 
ous, the cough is constant and distressing, the legs are extended, and at 
length the animal dies of suffocation. 




A H0R3B DRESSED FOR BRONCHITIS. 



What to do. — The first step is to find the extent of the inflammation. 
Never bleed. Clothe the animal warmly and give an injection of warm 
water to relieve the bowels. Avoid all strong purgatives. In fact, give 
none unless the bowels are decidedly bound up. Let the food be soft and 
laxative, green grass in Summer, or mashes and gruels in Winter. For the 
throat, scalded soft hay, fastened by means of the eight tailed bandages, 
will be orood. Wash the neck and chest with a weak decoction of tobacco 
as hot as it can be borne. When dry, shave the hair from the chest and 
apply a blister of better strength than that advised for chest founderc 
The following will be good : 



No. 53. 



1 Ounce powdered cantharides, 
1 Cimce powdered resin, 
i Ounces lard oil. 



?vlelt the resin and lard together, with just sufficient heat to melt the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 323 

resin. Add the cautbiiridcs und stir until it sets together. Apply to the 
chest and throat if the case is desperate. If only irritation is desired the 

following will be good : 

« 
No. 54. 4 Ounces lard oil, 

1 Ounce turpentine, 
6 Drachms powdered cantharides. 
Shave the hair and apply by rubbing in. 

For the body prepare a strong cloth as shown on preceding page. Get 
two pieces of flannel three yards long and the full width of the fabric, 
also four pieces half a yard long and a foot wide. Saturate one of the 
pieces with cold water, fold, and apply near the top of the back, equally 
on each side. Two of the smaller pieces are to be saturated wnth water 
and laid along the sides of the chest, fasten the jacket at the back so as 
to hold all snug. When the flannels are warm remove them and replace 
immediately wdth others. So continue for two or three hours as the case 
may be, and then allow them to remain until the animal is pretty well 
recovered. 

In very aggravated cases of congestion give every half liour until the 
pulse regains its tone, and then at longer intervals, reduced at last to 
once a day, the following : 

No. 55. 1 Ounce sulphuric ether, 

1 Ounce laudanum, 
1 Pint water. 

At the third dose discontinue if the effect required is not produced and 
give the following: 

No. 56. }i Ounce of aconite, 

>a Drachm of extract of belladonna. 

Rub down the belladonna wdtli an ounce of water. Mix. Give this 
every hour until the pulse is better, then withdraw the aconite and half 
the hiudanum, and add half a drachm of belladonna to the drink first rec- 
ommended. (No. 55.) Let the food be thick gruel of oatmeal, boiled 
potatoes, and oatmeal and bran mashes. Give no dry, and especially no 
dirty food. When the animal begins to recover so as to eat whole grain, 
gi'ass and hay, let them be especially freed from dust, and let them be 
given moistened, until the horse be perfectly recovered. 

If the disease is to terminate fatally, the ^^ulse will grow c^uick and 
tremulous. In drawing the breath the body WiiJ. quiver, showing increas- 
ing difficulty and pain. The membrane of the nose becomes of a bluish 
tint with frothy blood and purulent matter about the nostrils. The 
21 



324 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



respiration, will become more and more difficult, and the cough most 
distressing, and continuing until a quantity of fluid matter is ejected from 
the nostrils, only again and again to be resumed. Thus the animal suffers 
and dies, or else slowly recovers, remaining through life with the cough 
of incurable bronchitis. 




A COUGH OF INCURABLE BROKCHITIS. 

III. Pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs. 

This may follow acute congestion of the lungs, this being really its 
tirst stage, though often not noticed, by the ordinary observer, as such. 
But congestion may occur in its sudden and fatal form from overtaxing 
a fat horse, or one otherwise out of condition. Suppose from hard 
■ driving or hard riding he hangs heavily on the bit ; droops and staggers : 




A CASE OP CONGESTION. 



if not pulled up he may fall ; or getting to the stable he stands with 
dilated nostrils, extended head, quick, convulsive or labored breathing, 
eyes staring and bloodshot, his nasal membrane deep red or blue, and 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 32.1 

pulse rapid and weak ; if in putting the ear to the chest there is a loud 
respiratory murmur with crepitation (a peculiar slight cracking sound) ; 
if the heart, as felt behind the left elbow, is beating tumultuously ; if 
the limbs are cold, with perspiration breaking out on different parts of 
the body, there is no time to lose. In extreme cases bleed at once from 
the neck vein. The blood will be turbid, dark, almost jelly-like in very 
bad cases. 

Remove everything from the animal that may impede l>reathing, an<l 
allow him plenty of fresh air. Give an active stimulant, the easiest to 
be had ; whisky, four or five ounces, or a tumbler full in a half pint of 
water. If this cannot be had give an ounce of ground ginger in a pint 
of water, or a half ounce of oil of turpentine in half a tumbler of 
water. Give also warm water injections to relieve the bowels, and also 
active hand rubbing of the legs to promote circulation to the surface, 
while the body is enveloped in blankets wrung out of hot water, and 
covered with dry ones. If the patient does not soon recover under this 
treatment the case will be one of pneumonia. 

How to know it. — If the disease does not succeed to the symptoms we 
have just described, those of acute congestion, there will be a chill with 
shivering, and generally a diy cough, but deep as though from the chest. 
There will be a hot skin, indicating fever, quick-labored breathing, a full 
but oppressed pulse. The membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth will 
be red, and as the disease advances a yellowish or whitish matter will 
come from the nostrils. The horse will always stand with the legs wide 
apart ; so will the ox in bad cases, 

and the latter will moan with each ex- ,.-"~~~ " ~ "■ ----*;-^-. 

piration of the breath. Generally 
the ox will lie down. There will be 
crepitation of the lungs about ' the 
seat of the disease, and a more than 
normal murmur upon applying tiie 
ear. By percussion, striking the af- 
fected parts, there will be flinching 
and even groaning, but cxcej)t at the 
seat of the disease the chest will re- 
tain its healthy sound, while the dis- 
eased parts will sound dull and solid. 
Thus, by the ear, and sounding by ^hk position assumed by the horse 

^ J ' O J DUKING AN ATTACK OF pneumonia. 

the hand, the progress of the solidi- 
fication of the lungs may be followed from day to day. 

What to do. — Under the advice of a veterinary surgeon or physician, 
blood may be drawn. 'If none such arc near, if the animal be young and 




826 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR, 

plethoric, blood may be drawn in the earlier stages. Place the animal in 
a loose box stall, with plenty of ventilation to the stable. If the bowels 
are costive, loosen them by injections of warm water. Bandage the 
limbs to keep them warm, and give the body such clothing as the neces- 
sities of the case seem to require. Let the food be simple, laxative and 
coolino-. Bran mashes, Ijoilcd carrots, linseed meal, soft sweet hay. Do 
not check diarrhoea or profuse staling ; it is an effort of nature to relieve 
the system. If there is fever, give plenty of water. If there is swift 
pulse and oppression of the lungs, give 20 to 30 drops of tincture of 
aconite in half a pint of water, or 1 to 2 drachms of tincture of veratrum 
in water every two hours. If under this treatment the system becoirfes 
depressed, and it must be watched, discontinue. If the pulse falls — if 
there is trembling sweats, and a peculiar anxious expression in the eyes, 
discontinue. If there is great exhaustion, give moderate doses of whisky, 
but discontinue it unless good effects are seen. If there is much weak- 
ness, give two drachms each of camphor and of carbonate of ammonia, 
made into a ball with molasses and lins'eed meal, twice a day. In the 
case of considerable congestion, strong mustard poultices will be indi- 
cated, to be applied to the chest ; or in extreme cases, blister. 

In the case of cattle, the same general treatment should be followed. 
Double the quantity of aconite and ammonia should be given. As a rule, 
cattle require more- than the horse ; and in giving medicine to cattle it 
must trickle down the throat, in order that it may not pass into the first 
stomach. 

In this disease symptoms must be watched.. Good nursing is of espe- 
cial value, and as the animal begins to recover, give soft and easily 
digestible food, and assist the system if necessary with wine, ale or 
whisky in very light doses. 

IV. Consumption. 

This hereditary affection is much more common in the West than is 
generally supposed. More common in cattle and even in sheep and 
swine than in horses. In horses it is comparatively rare. The disease 
may.be communicated to healthy animals by inoculation, and by eating 
the raw flesh of diseased animals, and it may also be superinduced in an- 
imals predisposed to the disease by local inflammation ; so also the germs 
may be received in milk, when the disease has invaded the mammary 
glands of the cow. Deep milking cattle with narrow horns, thin necks 
and narrow chests are especially predisposed to the disease. Tubercles 
may be developed in any part of the body, even, in rare cases, the bones 
and muscles ; the lungs, the spleen, the liver, the pancreas, the ovaries 
and the kidneys are the usual seats of the disease. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 327 

Causes. — Badlj^ constructed and illy ventilated stables ; moving from a 
warm to a cold climate ; exposure to cold and wet ; or any thing which 
tends to lower the health in a predisposed animal will bring on the disease. 

How to Know it. — The disease may be acute, carrying off the animal, 
sometimes, in a few weeks. It is generally chronic. The attacic is insid- 
ious, tubercles often being formed before danger is suspected. There is 
a general dullness and loss of spirit, tenderness of the Avithers, back, loins, 
and of the walls of the chest. In cattle the nose will often be dr}'^, show- 
ing fever ; the ears and horns will be hot ; the skin loses its elasticity and 
pliant quality. The heat of the body may go up to 102 degrees ; the 
pulse is weak but accelerated, and there is a slight, dry, but not frequent 
cough ; the lymphatic glands about the throat may be enlarged and there 
UKW be swelling of the joints. If the chest is sounded there may be 
heard a murnmring sound hoarser than natural, if it be listened for just 
over the lower end of the Avind pipe or in the chest. As the disease ad- 
vances, the eyes become more and more sunken, the skin becomes more 
and more hide bound, the hair is dry and erect. If the bowels are 
involved there will be more or less scouring, and if the lungs are prin- 
cipally affected there will be swelling and lameness, labored breathing, 
exhaustion and profuse perspiration occurring upon the slightest exercise. 
There will be temporary windy distention of the stomach after feeding, 
and the appetite fails. The cough increases with rattling, the dischaige 
at first light, increases. There is crepitation (a rattling or snapping 
sound) of the lungs, with a whirring or gurgling of the chest, and percus- 
sion gives a dull sound, with Avincing when the parts covering them are 
handled. So if tubercles are formed in the liver, pancreas, or kidnevs it 
will shoAV the involvement of these parts. Recoveries are rare. Occasion- 
ally calcification of the tubercles occurs in animals naturallv of a strong 
constitution, but the disease usually ends in death. 

What to do. — A cure is scarcely ever accomplished. The symptoms 
may be mitigated. The animal must have dry, pure air, plenty of sun- 
shine. Summer and Winter, and be protected from sudden changes, and 
must be kept warm. The food should be light and digestible, good grass 
in Summer and ground food with linseed meal and roots in Winter. In 
the early stages of the disease four to five drachms of gentian may be 
given daih^ in the food, at two or three doses, alternated with two drachms 
of sulphate of iron as a tonic. As an expectorant, and diaphoretic, give 
occasionally three to four ounces flowers of sulphur every other day, or 
once in three days, or to act on the skin and as a diuretic, the following : 

No. 67. 2 Ounces of flowers of sulphur. 

2 To 3 three drachms powdered resin. 



328 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Mix and give a dose daily until the effect is produced ; and afterwardt< 
as needed. As an antiseptic (to counteract putresence) the fumes of 
burning sulphur would be indicated. 

How to Prevent. — From what we have written the owner will under- 
pstand the difficulty attending the treatment of this disease, and also its 
dano-erous character in the case of cattle. The flesh and milk it is better 
not to use at all, although danger can be destroyed b}'^ the most thorough 
cookino-. Usino- consumptive animals as breeders, or sellino- the milk of 
consumptive animals should not be thought of. Drainage, good pastur- 
ajre, a warm, sunny location for the stables and yards, care against all 
chronic and debilitating diseases, good, liberal feeding, especially when 
animals are giving milk, the prompt removal of all consumptive animals 
from pastures and buildings, and the thorough fumigation of the latter is 
recommended. 

V. Pleurisy. 

This is an inflammation of the membrane lining of the chest and 
covering of the lungs. It is common to all domestic animals, in exposed 
situations and those liable to rheumatism. The pleura is one of the serous 
membranes, those lining close cavities, as the chest, abdomen and joints. 
In health they are insensible to us, but under the effects of inflammation 
the most sensitive and painful possible. Since every inspiration and 
expiration of the breath moves these membranous linings upon each other, 
we can at once see the extreme anguish it must occasion. If relief is 
not soon obtained the disease quickly ends in death. 

How to know Pleurisy. — There will be some alternations of shivering 
followed by heat of the skin, sometimes extending to the limbs. There 
will be localized sweating and congestion of the muscles. If confined to 
oiie side the foot of that side will be extended. The animal will look at 
the flank, lie down, rise again, and there will be general uneasiness indi- 
cative of pain. The pulse will be quick and hard, seeming to strike the 
finger under the compression. There will be inclination to cough, but 
which the animal will fear to exercise. The cough is not always present, 
but when so, is always suppressed, short and hacking. The breathing 
will be hurried, but apparently confined to the abdominal muscles, the 
inspiration short and checked, but the expiration slow and prolonged. 
In pneumonia and bronchitis there is often intense redness of the 
nose, in pleurisy less. There is no nasal discharge and the heat of the 
breath is not so great as in pneumonia. After effusion of serum (fluid 
matter or water) into the cavity of the chest ensues, which may be in 24 
or 36 hours, the pulse becomes soft, and the animal seems better. If 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 32& 

the effusion is re-absorbed the animal will recover. If not, the pulse 
loges its full tone, and again becomes hard and quick. The breathing is 
again difficult and attended with lifting of the flank and loin. The nose 
and head is extended, the nostrils are dilated, with signs of suffocation. 
The pulse at length becomes weak, thrilling at each beat until at length 
the animal, wavers, staggers, falls and dies. 

An attack of pleurisy is often taken by those unacquainted with the 
disease for spasmodic colic. This error, if made, will probably be fatal 
to the animal affected. In colic the pulse is natural at the commence- 
ment, and the paroxysms of pain are of short duration. In pleurisy the 
artery is thin, the pulsations seem to strike the fingers, but the stroke is 
short. The pain is continuous, the body hot, but the feet generally cold. 

What to do. — The same general care as in bronchitis and inflammation 
of the lungs is to be observed. If there is a chill, wrap the horse com- 
pletely in blankets wrung out of hot water, and cover with dry ones. 
When removed, do so a little at a time, rubbing dry, and re-clothe w^armly. 
If taken in its earliest stage, give : 

No. 58. K Ounce laudanum, 

>i Pint linseed oil. 

This will often prove effective ; if not, repeat the dose in a few hours. 
For an ox, give double this dose. If the symptoms increase, apply a 
strong mustard poultice to the side of the chest, or a blister. No. 53 
may be applied to the chest. The bowels should be kept mod-erately 
open. If effusion of water takes place, give 6 drachms of acetate of 
potassa once or twdce a day in a pail of water. The following will be 
found excellent in place of the last named remedy, if there is weakness 
and a rapid pulse (70 to 80), and scanty urine : 

No. 59. }i. Ounce tincture of chloride of iron, 

M pail water. 
Give as a drink twice dq,i]y. 

The effusion of water not yielding, the chest may be tapped with a 
trochar. Divide the skin with a lancet, between the eighth and ninth 
rib and near the lower end. Be careful the air does not enter. Draw 
off only a part of the water if it produces a shock. In this, one should 
have the advice of a veterinarian. Repeat in 24 to 48 hours. The ani- 
mal should be kept up with sulphate of iron, two drachms, twice a day, 
in water, with stimulants and easily digestible and nutritious food. 

It is absolutely necessary, after effusion of water has taken place, that 
the urine should be passed freely to assist absorption. To this end the 
following will be indicated : 



330 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 60. 1 Drachm iodide of potassium, 

1 Drachm carbonate of ammonia, 
y^ Ounce powdered gentian. 

Give twice a day as a drench in a quart of water, or as a ball mixed 
with linseed meal and molasses. 

VI. Colds. 

Colds in horses, as in the human family, are usually the result of im- 
proper care or undue exposure. Taking a horse from a hot, illy ventil- 
ated stable, and allowing him after driving to become cold, is one prolific 
cause of colds. There are so many means of causing this disability that 
it would be impossible to enumerate them. If the attack is light, all that 
will be necessary will be to clothe the animal warmly and relax the bowels 
with a warm mash, and give rest for a few daj^s. 

Sometimes, however, the attack is prolonged 
and severe. The appetite ceases, the coat rough- 
ens, parts of the body arc hot and others cold, the 
membrane of the nose at first dry and pale, 
with the facial sinuses clogged, at length termi- 
nates in a discharge more or less great, but with- 
out improving the health of the horse. 

What to do. — Keep the animal warmly clothed, 
in ample box stall, Tvith plenty of bedding. If 
A HORSK's HEAD WITH COLD, the coM docs uot give way in a few days after 
the first attack, and the symptoms are as we have 
indicated, or if the membranes of the nose are dry, make a sack of 
coarse gunny cloth, large enough so it may fit the nose properly, but en- 
laro-ino- to the bottom, and two feet or more lono-, with a slit covered with 
a flap in the side, half way down. Put into the bag half a peck or more 
of coarse pine sawdust with which half an ounce of spirits of turpentine 
has been thoroughly mixed. Place the bag on the nose as shown in 
the cut on next page. 

Turn two gallons of hot water in the slit, and every twenty minutes 
repeat, allowing the bag to remain on an hour each time, use this six 
times a day until the discharge begins. When water runs freely from 
the nose, three times daily will be enough. Let the food be good scalded 
oats or other like food, with mashes if the bowels are constipated. 

An animal with this kind of a cold should not be put to steady work 
until entirely recovered. The result of protracted cold is great weakness, 
and work before recovery often leads to disease of the air passages and 
lungs. If there is much fever give the following : 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



331 



No. 61. 



2 Drachms spirits of ammonia, 
2 Drachms ether. 



Mix and give in a little gruel, (say 1-2 pint, ) twice a day. If the throat 
is involved poultice it with linseed meal in which a little mustard has been 
mixed. When the symptoms give way and improvement begins, or if 
the appetite is not good prepare the following : 



No. 62. 



2 Ounces powdered gentian, 

2 Ounces carbonate of ammonia. 



Foi-m this into a mass, with linseed oil and molasses, divided into eight 
parts and give one twice each day. If the cold becomes chronic it ends 
in catarrh. When there are catarrhal symptoms and sore throat give the 



following 



No. 63. 



1 Drachm extract of belladonna, 

2 Drachms ipecac, 

2 Drachms powdered camphor, 
4 Drachms nitre. 



./-^'T-i 



Mix into a ball with linseed oil, and give one 
every three or four hours. In inveterate or chron- 
ic cold there is discharge, and swelling of the Ivm- 
phatic gland. We have already shown how glan- 
ders may be known. 

We give a cut show- 
ing the enlargement 
of the lymphatic 
gland in chronic 
cold. In case the 
horse gets cold it is 
better that he be ex- 
amined by a competent 
veterinary surgeon, 
(jiot by a quack,) in order to be sure the disease is not glanders 




HEAD WITH LYMPHATIC GLAND 
OP THE THROAT SWOLLEN. 




1— The enlarged lymphatic within 
the jaw. 



NOSK BAG FOR STEAMING 
UORSE WITH COLD, 



VII. Enlarged Glands— Goitre. 

There are various glands in the throat that are subject to enlargement 
from disease, and which remain permanent after the disease is passed. 
This result is generally more unsightly as a blemish than as a real disa- 
bility. Goitre, however, is a disease peculiar to some limestone regions, 
producing in animals as in man a swelling of the thyroid gland. In some 
portions of the East it is quite prevalent, producing extensive enlarge- 



332 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOE. 

nients in liimbs. It also attacks cattle and swine. In solid-hoofed anl- 
nials, as in the horse,.'there may be a swelling on either side ; in others it 
is in the center just below the roots of the jaws. For all enlargements 
of the glands, tincture of iodine will disperse the swelling if it may be 
possible. In l3ronchocele or goitre, rainwater only should be given to 
drink ; iodine in doses of ten grains daily may be given on an empty 
stomach, and the swelling may be painted with the tincture. This to l)e 
persisted in for months. Another remedy that has been successful, is 
the following ; 

No. 64. >i Draelim iodide of potassium, 

1 Drachm liquor potassae, 
>a Pint rainwater. 

Mix, and give as a dose night and morning, using the tincture of iodine 
on the goitre. 

VIII. Swelled Throat, or Laryngitis. 

Causes. — Foul stables or any cause producing colds, catarrhs, etc. It 
is sometimes divided professionally into laryngitis and pharyngitis, but 
practically they are one — inflammation of the air and food passages of 
the neck, generally accompanied with cough, difficulty in swallowing 
and fever. 

How to Know it. — The animal is dull. The head is carried in a]3eculiar 
manner, as though the neck were stiff. There is a short, frequent 
cough, the breath is hurried, the pulse full and throbbing, and the mem- 
branes of the nasal passages are high, colored, almost scarlet. There 
will be a hoarse sound, approaching to a grunt, at each breath taken, if 
the- ears are held against the animal's wind-pipe. Externally there is 
more or less enlargement over the region of the larynx, the enlargement 
of the windpipe next the throat. Handling the throat seems to produce 
extreme pain. 

What to do. — Reduce the pulse at once by doses of tincture of 
aconite in a wine glass full of water, repeated every half hour. Place 
the steaming-bag on the nose, as recommended for colds. Keep it em- 
ployed almost constantly, for there may be danger of strangulation. If 
the steamhig seems to distress the animal, omit it, or use it only occa- 
sionally, and soak soft ha}^ in boiling water and apply to the throat as 
hot as can be borne. Bandage and fasten with the eight-tailed bandage 
previously described. Or, ferment the throat with cloths wrung out of 
hot mustard water. If there is difficulty in swallowing, put a tea- 
syoonf ul of the following well back on the tongue several times a day : 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



333 



No. 65. 



1 Ounce powdered guaiacum, 

4 Ounces powdered chlorate of potash, 

}i Pint of inohisses. 



Do not in administering iinvthing, force the jiiws wide apart. Act as 
gently as possible. If the animal is feverish and the throat hot and dry, 
give three times a day, in a pint of cold linseed tea, the following : 



No. 66. 



1 Drachm powdered ipecac, 

1 Ounce soUuion of acetate of ammonia. 



In case the disease becomes chronic, the following excitant to the 
throat will be indicated : 



No. 67. 



1 Part oil of turpentine, 
1 Part solution of ammonia, 
1 Part olive oil. 



Mix, shake the bottle before using, and rub well in on the throat every 
iJay. If this does not relieve, apply the following blister : 

No. QS. 1 Drachm croton oil, 

1 Dracbm sulphuric ether, 
10 Drachms alcohol. 

Mix, and apply by rubbing with considerable friction. 





A HORSE WITH THE TIIltOAT BLISTERED. 



A SETON IX THE TIIKOAT OF A HORSE. 



When the symptoms become more favorable, by the membranes of the 
nose becoming pale or more natural in color; by the cough becoming 
more free, or louder, easier and with less violent breathing, and by the 
appearance of a white and thick discharge from the nostrils, put a seton 
in the throat, (see cut,) and allow nothing but moist and succulent food. 
Move the seton daily until healthy pus (matter) is formed. Then cut 
one of the knots and withdraw it, and as the horse recovers allow drier 
food — hay and grain — but that entirely free from dust. See that no 
stones or grit are in the oats, and soak for five or six hours before feed- 
iho-. In this, as in diseases where the throat is more or less sore, the 
horse may quid his food. This is not a symptom of laryngitis as is some- 



334 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




A IIOIl^E QUIDDING. 



times supposed, but known to all diseases where there is obstruction in 
swallowing. 

IX. Chronic Cough. 

There are many cases of long standing or 
chronic cough. Cough is an attendant upon 
so many disorders of the air passages, from 
the most trivial difficulty in teething to glan- 
ders, that a cough should not be overlooked 
in the diagnose of diseases. And so many 
diseases leave the patient with chronic cough, 
that its symptomatic stages should be care- 
fully observed. 

Coughing tends generally to a thickening of the membranes. When 
the membrane covering the larynx becomes thickened, and consequently 
morbidly sensitive, the cough becomes fixed or what is termed chronic. 
The sense of smell in the nose is peculiarly acute, and the membranes 
of the nose and throat, as a matter of course, are fully as sensitive. We 
have said, "the limbs and feet are half the horse : the lungs the test of 
his endurance." Yet nine in ten of the stables in which horses are kept 
are offensive to man and irritate the air passages when first entered. Yet 
the sense of smell in man is not very acute, except in a few directions. 
A stable therefore, offensive to man is not a fit place for horses to be 
kept, where the lungs constitute one of the principal excellencies of the 
animal. 




THE ACT OF COUGHING. 



The cough which accompanies the several diseases of which this vol- 
ume treats, will be described in the treatment of the diseases themselves. 
In this article chronic cough will be treated, the cough that is always 
p^-esent in eating, drinking and inhalins: a cold draught of air, or from 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 335 

any cause of excitement, requiring long and careful nursing for their 
cure. The chronic cough, resulting from colds, is hard and metallic. 
For this, the following will be good, to be rubbed on the throat and 
urouud the windpipe, once in ten days : 

No. 69. 15 Drops croton oil, 

1 Ounce glycerine, 

Give twice a day, for a week, the following : 

No. TO. 40 Drops diluted prussic acid, 

1 Ounce niter, 

1 Ounce bicarbonate of soda, 
1 Quart water. 

If this does not give relief, the following, valuable for irritable chronic 
cough, the result of influenza or sore throat, may be used : 

No. 71. 1 Ounce Fowler's solution of arsenic, 

1 Ounce chlorate of potash, 
1 Drachm belladoua. 

Give once a day in water or gruel and note results, ceasing after a 
week or ten days, if no improvement ensues. For cough and sore throat, 
when first discovered, take : 

No. 72. 1 Drachm powdered camphor, 

1 Drachm extract belladona, 

2 Ounces sweet spirits niter. 

Give in a pint of cold gruel three times a day. Tar-water is well known 
to be valuable in obstinate coughs. Give every morning as a drink, the 
following : 

No. 73. 1 Drachm powdered squills, 

% Pint tar-water, 
}i Pint lime-water. 

If the cough is violent, use as a sedative, the following : 

No. 74. 1 Drachm dilute prussic acid, 

2 Drachms powdered opium, 
4 Drachms niter. 

Mix in a pint of linseed tea and give from five to six table-spoonfula 
three times a day. 

Expectorants, calculated to loosen the cough and restore the secretions 
to their natural conditions, do not act so kindly as could be wished on 
farm animals. For a long standing cough, trv the following: 



336 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 75. 1 Drachm aloes, 

1 Drachm squills, 
'2 Drachms gum ammoniacum. 

Mix into a ball with meal and give once a day in the morning. If the 
cough is irritable and easily excited, and the bowels natural, omit the 
aloes and substitute for it one drachm of opium. 

For a cold settled in the chest, with cough, give every morning the 
following : 

No. 76. 1 Drachm ipecac, 

1 Drachm liquorice powder, 
>i Ounce nitrate of ammonia. 

Add tar, the size of a hazel-nut and mix with molasses to form a ball. 
All coughs resulting from indigestion or worms, and some of those 
resulting from irritation of the passages of the throat, are often cured 
by turning the horse out in Summer where he may have free range on the 
prairie, where resin weed grows plentifully. A long standing cough, 
however, requires time, and the operator must use judgment in adminis- 
tering medicine. If he be a veterinary surgeon he will make up his mind 
from various sj^mptoms. The farmer should endeavor carefully to do 
the same. 

X. Malignant Epidemic. 

Under this head the older veterinarians were accustomed to term 
several diseases that sweeping over a country became unusually prevalent 
or fatal. Thus Dr. Layard and Ohmer long ago wrote of malignant 
epidemic, probably a severe form of catarrhal fever, or epidemic catarrh, 
and also known as influenza distemper, malignant epidemic, murrain, 
pest, etc. 

Youatt describes a malignant disease occurring in 1714 in England, 
imported from the continent and destroying in the course of a few months 
70,000 horses and cattle. Professor Bruquon, of Turin, says of this 
disease, that it commenced with loss of appetite, staring coat, a wild and 
wanderino; look, and a staofoering from the very commencement. The 
horse would continually lie down .and get up again, as if tormented by 
colic ; and he gazed alternately at both flanks. In moments of compar- 
ative ease there were universal twitchings of the skin and spasms of the 
limbs. The temperature of the ears and feet was variable. If there 
happened to be about the animal any old wound or scar from setoning or 
firing, it opened afresh and discharged a quantity of thick and black 
blood. Very shortly afterward the flanks, which were quiet before, began 
to heave, the nostrils were dilated, the head extended for breath. The 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 337 

horse had, by this time become so weak that, if he hiy, or fell down, he 
could rise no more ; or, if he was up, he would stand trembling, stagger- 
ing, and threatening to fall eveiy moment. The mouth was drj^, the 
tongue white and the breath fetid ; a discharge of yellow or fetid matter 
proceeded from the nose and fetid matter from the anus. The duration 
of the disease did not exceed twelve or twenty-four hours ; or if the 
animal linjrered on swellinjis of the head and throat and sheath and 
scrotum followed, and he died exhausted, or in convulsions. 

Black spots — extravasation — were found in cellular membrane, in the 
tissue of all the membranes, and on the coats of the stomach. The 
mesenteric and lymphatic glands were engorged, black and gangrenous. 
The membrane of the nose and pharynx were highly injected, the lungs 
were filled with black and frothy blood, or with black and livid spots. 
The brain and its meninges were unaltered. 

XI. DifLLCulty of Breathing. 

From whatever source this may arise, whether from some disorgan- 
ization, or change in the lungs, or obstruction in the air passages ; what- 
ever the obstruction be, it must first be traced to its cause before good 
can be done. This is sometimes not easy to do ; the owner must act 
with judgment. Thick wind often follows pneumonia, and is caused by 
closing or obliteration (hepatization) of a portion of the lungs. If it does 
not pass away after the disease which preceded it is entirely cured, it may 
be mitigated by feeding the animal on sound oats, entirel}' freed from 
dust, giving but little hay, that moistened, and avoiding any food that is 
dusty. Mashes and carrots in Winter sufScient to keep the bowels prop- 
erly open, and turning on prairie pasture in Summer will be indicated. 

Roaring has rendered nearly useless many valual^le horses in England ; 
in the United States horses are not subject to it. It is said to be pro-: 
duced by obstruction in some part of the respiratory canal, most often in 
the larynx and next in the trachea. Thus chronic cough sometimes ter- 
minates in roaring. In this country heaves is the most usual termination. 

XII. Broken Wind ; Bellows ; Heaves. 

Causes. — Broken wind is the result both of disease of the lungs and 
violent exertions. Feeding on dusty hay and grain are prolific sources of 
the disease. Where no clover hay is used, the disease is rare. It is 
mainly confined to horses that have arrived at maturity. A horse fed for 
days and weeks on dusty hay, and then driven hard, will exhibit heaves, 
unless his lungs and digestion are extraordinar3^ This disease is usually 
known in the South under the name of bellows, and in the !Ni irth as 
heaves, either of them expressive of the disease. 



338 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



How to know it. — Broken wind is nearly allied to asthma in man, but 
is more continuous in its action and less liable to occur in paroxysms. 
At each breath there will be a two-fold motion of the flank, caused by a 
fallino" in of the abdominal walls, causing the flank to lift, then after a 
perceptible interval a rising of the back part of the belly assists in freeing 
the luno-s of air. There is a short, dry cough, sometimes almost inaudi- 
ble, followed by whirring. When the horse is moved suddenly, or driven 
hard, when a draught of cold water is given, or the animal is suddenly 
brought into the cold air, the spells will occur. Indigestion is almost 
always present, and as a consequence of flatulency of the bowels. The 
appetite is ravenous and unnatural ; eating the litter given for bedding, is 
one of the many exhibitions of it. 

What to do. — There is no permanent cure for this disability. The 
symptoms and distress may be alleviated by giving only sound grain and 
bright, hard stalked hay, free from dust. Prairie hay with plenty of 
resin leaf in it is the best ; next, clean cured corn-stalks. But little water 
should be allowed at a time, and not more than 6 to 8 pounds of hay, 
daily, and this given at night, the provender being confined as much as 
possible to grain and grass in Summer, and grain, bran-mashes and car- 
rots or potatoes in Winter. 

This will enable many broken-winded horses to do a fair amount ol 
work with comparative comfort. In any event, a horse inclined to be 
thick- winded in any degree, should never be tightly checked up, nor 
above all, be driven by pulling in the head, causing undue bearing either 
of the curb or snafile on the jaw. 

The animal should be allowed to hold its head 
in the easiest position, since its work must be nec- 
essarily slow. One of the most usual palliative 
means of the animal appearing for a time sound, 
is to give 10 to 15 grains of arsenic a day for a 
week or ten days. A better preparation to give 
relief — afterwards, the animal to be turned out 
on clean, short grass, is the following: 




BIT BEAKING UPON JAW. 

No. 77. 



1 Ounce Fowler's solution of arsenic, 
1 Di'achm extract of belladonna, 
>i Drachm tincture of ginger. 



Give once a day, in the morning, in one pint of water, and continue foi 
four to eight weeks, as circumstances may dictate. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 

XIII. Influenza. 



339 



This epizootic, which first iind hist has "been prevalent in nearly all 
countries where the horse is used, is, as to its origin, but little under- 
stood. Its symptoms, however, are well known, but these may be 
complicated by inflammatory symptoms of all the air passages ; also by 
rheumatic swellings, paralysis, delirium and inflammation of the eyes. 

How to know it. — The attack may be sudden. There will be stupor 
and weakness, the head will be held low, the eyes dull and half closed, 
the gait will be weak, with cracking of the joints sometimes. There will 
be no appetite, and fever ; the mouth hot and clammy, the bowels costive, 
v;ith scanty urine ; the pulse quick and weak, but sometimes hard ; the 
membrane of the nose may be pink, or a deep leaden hue ; the cough will 
be deep and harGli ; the coat rough and staring ; the skin tender and 
sometimes trembling, and the ears and limbs alternately hot and cold. 
Upon applying the car to the lungs crepitation w^ill be heard, or some- 
times a harsh blowing sound. As the disease progresses, and the nos'^ 
discharges a w^hite, yellowish or greenish water, the animal may get bet- 
ter ; but when the lungs are seriously involved, the symptoms will in- 
crease. As a rule there is constipation, although purging is sometimes 
present. 




CONFIRMED INFLUENZA. 



What to do. — Place the animal in a well littered stall, free from drafts 
of air. Do not depend upon strong physic. The cure must be effected 
by watching the symptoms and combating them. If there is costiveness 
keep the bowels open by injections of two wine glasses full of linseed 
oil. Relief must be had by means of stimulants And tonics. Good 
VvMsing must be constant, with clothing enough to keep the animal warm. 
A good tonic and stimulant is : 
. 22 



340 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 78 2 Oz of gentian, 

2 Oz. carbonate ammonia. 

Form in eight doses and give one night and morning. If the cough is 
distressing prepare the following : 

No. 79. li Oz. extract Ijelladonna, 

2 DracLms powdered opium, 

3 Drachms camphor, 
2 Oz. liquorice, 

ii Pint molasses. 

Mix thoroughly and spread a table-spoonful on the tongue twice a day. 
Jf , ^vith the cough, there is sore throat and catarrh, prepare the following : 

No. 80. ■ 20 Grains iodine, 

1 Drachm iodide of potassium, 

2 Ounces sweet spirits of niter, 
1 Pint water gruel. 

Give this as a dose twice a day. If the animal should begin to improve 
it will be about the fifth day. 

Sometimes recovery is complicated by various disabilities. If there is 
dropsy or swelling of the legs or sheath, prepare the following : 

No. 81. 1 Oz. iodide of potassium, 

1 Oz. carbonate of ammonia, 
1 Oz. powdered gentian. 

Form into eight balls and give one mornins; and evening:. 

If a spasmodic cough folloAvs the attack the following will be indicated : 

No. 82. 1 Drachm extract of belladonna, 

1 Drachm chloroform, 
10 Drachms alcohol. 

Mix in a pint of gruel and let it trickle slowly down the throat, in 
order to produce a full local effect. 

As recovery ensues, the food should be nourishing and easily digested. 
The animal should be induced to take food during the disease, especially 
in the form of nourishing gruel. When the pulse changes, and especially 
when it loses its wiry character ; when the discharge from the nose 
becomes steady and copious, a pint of ale occasionally is a good stimu- 
lant. In any event, good, easily digested food should be given, and the 
animal must be nursed until entirely recovered. 

XV. Pink Eye.* 

This epidemic has been prevailing throughout the United States. It is a dis- 

* From M. W. Birch, V. S., President of the Pennsylvania Colles;e of Veterinary Surgeons. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 341 

case which confines itself to no particular organ or organs of the animal economy. 
The cause is some malignant miasmatic influence. 

Symptoms. — The mucous surface of the eyelid assumes a yellow cast; in- 
creased redness of the membrane of the nose; oozing of tears and sometimes 
mucus from the corners of the eyes; snorting, in some cases cough, and sore 
throat, with or without febrile disorder. I shall divide my subject into four 
classes: Simple, when void of fever; febrile, when attended by fever; chronic, 
when of long and tedious duration ; influenzal, when attacking many at one 
time, and accompanied with prostration of strength and loss of condition. 

The symptoms of simple are some slight hurried blush of the membrane of 
the nose; oozing of tears from the corners of the eyes, with globules of mucus 
observable in them; occasional snorting, perhaps coughing as well, with or 
without slight soreness of the throat, but without depression of spirit or loss 
of appetite. 

Febrile stage may be either slight or severe. When slight it is nothing more 
than the simple form accompanied with swelling in one or all the legs, and 
with dullness and fastidiousness of appetite and some little fever, preceded per- 
haps by shivering. This is the ordinary form. 

The severe form is that in which the depression is greater, the appetite nearly 
or quite lost, the fever compai'atively high, membranes more injected. The 
duration of an attack of Pink Eye is ordinarily from one week to three. 
Should it not appear to be on the decline about the third week, we may infer 
the disease is becoming chronic, in which form it may degenerate into nasal 
gleet or glanders. 

Treatment. — The treatment is a very simple affair. First. Take the horse 
out of his warm (perhaps foul) stable, or frpm any cold or wet situation in 
which he may happen to be, and turn him loose into a box of the temperature 
of 55 degrees. Take care that he may have an ample bed, clean and dry, 
and free from all impurities. In cokl weather clothe him warmly, and, if re- 
quired, flannel bandage his legs ; give him nothing to eat but sloppy bran- 
mashes; and, as he probably evinces signs of sore throat, let him have linseed 
tea or gruel, or chilled water to drink, a pailful of either beverage being hung 
up M'ithin his box, so that he may partake of it at pleasure. Inject by the 
mouth once a day as follows : 

Chlorate of Potash, one ounce; 
AVarm water, a half gallon. 

Let the throat be rubbed with the following linimentj 

Water of Ammonia ; 

Oil of Turpentine; 

Oil of Lard ; two ounces of each. 

Apply the above once a day for three days. Should the excrement prove 
hard, let an injection of soap and tepid, water be given and repeated daily, 



342 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

until, through it or a mash diet, the bowels become regular. Administer in- 
ternally F. Ext. Belladonna in 80-drop doses every three hours. If the animal 
be attacked with fever, discontinue Belladonna and substitute Tr. Aconite in 10- 
drop doses every hour until eight doses have been given. If the animal be- 
comes debilitated, a stimulant should be given in the form of whisky. Give 
au ordinary whisky glass full as a dose. If the breathing becomes labored or 
increased, apply the liniment which is to be used on the throat to b^^th sides of 
the chest. This should be doue but once. Follow this with careful nursing and 
moderate exercise. 

XVI. Bleeding from the Nose. 

This often occurs from various injuries to the mucus membrane of the 
nostrils, from hard pulling up hill, too tight a collar, and from OLuer 
causes, especially if the animal be full of blood. In these cases, the 
bleeding is from one nostril and in drops, accompanied by sneezing. If 
the bleeding conies from the lungs, it will be bright red and frothy, and 
there will be a cough. If from the stomach, it will be black, clotted, 
sour and accompanied by retching. 

What to do. — In simple cases tie the head up as high as possible, blow 
strong alum water from a tube into the nostril at each inspiration, and if 
obstinate, plug the nostril with pledgets of tow. Give internally one 
scruple of acetate of lead, to be followed in half an hour with another 
if necessary. In the case of an ox, two scruples may be given at a dose, 

If both nostrils are involved, and the flow is continuous, onl}^ one nos^ 
tril must be stopped at a time, unless tracheotomy is performed, sinct 
the horse cannot breathe through the mouth. The ox, however, can dt 
so, and both nostrils may be plugged if necessary. See Tracheotomy, page 488. 

XVII. Strangles. 

This is a disease but little known in America. Our distemper takes 
its place. It is thus described in English works : It usually occurs in 
young horses, highly-bred horses being more subject to it than cold 
blooded ones. "When the animal is "breeding strangles," there is a gen- 
eral though slight indisposition. After a few days the neck becomes 
stiff, the throat swells, the tumor being hard, hot and tender. A d>- 
charge from the nose takes place, the throat becomes sore, the breathing 
oppressed, the hair is staring, the appetite is gone, and the animal stands 
with half-closed eyes. At length the tumor becomes ripe enough and is 
opened, as is usual in distemper. It is more than probable that the dis- 
ease is really the same, and that strangles and distemper are one and the 
same thing, only modified by conditions and climate. 



THE HOUSE, ITS DISEASES. 313 

The general treatment is the same as for distemper. See on pages 308-310. 




OPENING THE ABSCESS OF STltAKGLES. 



XVIII. Spasmodic Action of the Glottis and Epiglottis- 

This may be occasioned rarely by food sticking in the sesophagus. It 
is sometimes attendant upon cutting the teeth, in which case the gums should 
be cut. It generally appears in colts, calves, and lambs. 

How to know it. — The first S3aTiptoms are like those of sore throat. 
There will be a dr}^ whirring breathing and a hard metallic couo;h. 
Sometimes it will be heard only when spasm of the larynx comes on. 
As the disease progresses the fever increases, the temperature of the 
bod}^ running to 107 degrees, and the pulse from ninety to over one 
hundred. White films or pellicles (albuminous false membranes) form 
in the throat, which come away from time to time, or if not, the animal 
dies of suffocation. 

What to do. — Place the animal where it may have free air but no drafts, 
and where the temperature may be kept comfoi-table. Allow sufficient 
clothing. Give as a laxative twelve ounces Glauber salts dissolved in a 
quart of warm water. 

As an antispasmodic give two or three drachm doses of laudanum 
every hour in a decoction of marsh mallow. In the early stage of the 
disease warm fomentations persistently applied may scatter the disease. 
If later, use the following : 

No. 82. 1 Part oil of turpentine, 

1 Part lard oil, 
1 Part solution of ammonia. 

Hub well on the affected parts of the. throat. If the membrane in the 
throat do not give way, and there is increased difficulty in breathing, swab the 
tliroat with a solution of: 10 gr, nitrate of silver in 1 oz. of rainwater. 



CHAPTER VI. 



DISEASES. OP THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. 



I. SOUR STOMACH. 11. COLIC. III. THE BOT. IV. INFLAMMATION AND 

RUPTURE OF THE COLON. V. INFLAMMATION AND BLEEDING OF THE KEC 

TUM. VI. SPONTANEOUS SALIVATION. VII. INFLAMMATION OF THE STOM 

ACH. VIII. SORENESS AND ITCHING OF THE ANUS. IX. CHRONIC GASTRITIS. 

X. SPASMS OF THE DIAPHRAGM. XI. RUPTURE OF THE STOMACH. 

XII. INFLAMMATION OF THE PERITONEUM. XIII. STRANGULATION OF THE 

INTESTINES. XIV. FUNCTIONAL DISEASES OP THE LIVER. XV. PARASITES 

WHICH AFFECT THE LIVER. XVI. DIARRHEA. 



I. Sour Stomach. 



Animals living upon vegetable food, where the mastication or the 
grinding down of the substances taken into the mouth is imperfectly 
accomplished, or where a greedy animal is allowed to overload the 
stomach with food, since it thus is imperfectly moistened with saliva, 
are subject to acidity of the stomach, fermentation of the food, and 
the diseases attendant thereupon. Carbonic acid gas is evolved, and if 
not checked in time will sometimes cause violent and extreme distension 
and inflammation of the stomach, the result of decomposition, or spas- 
modic colic, with paroxysms of extreme agony, and sometimes the most 
violent rupture of the stomach ending in death. 

We often see violent distension of the stomach in cattle when turned 
into a field of flush clover when hungry; the remedy in this case is 
thrusting a trochar or knife into the stomach to allow the escape of the 
gases. When in the horse inflammatory action has been set up it may 
lead to many diseases, each of which must be treated according to the 
symptoms exhibited. 
344 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 345 

In the first stage or that of simple acidity of the stomach, if taken in 
time, treatment is comparatively easy. It is called sour stomach, acute 
gastritis, indigestion, tympany, etc. 

CauseS' — Suspended digestion and consequent fermentation from over- 
loading the stomach with improperly chewed food. This will never occur 
in slow feeders that fully grind and saturate the food with saliva, since in 
this case the appetite is fully satisfied before overloading ensues. Colic 
may occur by giving large draughts of water immediately after feeding, 
thus washing forward the food beyond the stomach. Sour stomach may 
also ensue from indigestible and easily fermented food, and inflammation 
from eating plants that irritate the stomach. 

How to know it. — The first symptoms are sour stomach, simple colic, 
or fermentation. There is fullness, causing undue distension; then 
quickened, deep, but oppressed breathing ; the animal is dull and stupid ; 
there is increasing pain, and at length, if relief is not obtained, more 
violent symptoms set in. 

What to do. — Give immediately one or two ounces of magnesia. 
Evacuate the bowels by means of injections of warm water. Rub the 
belly with considerable friction one way, from the forelegs back. If 
there is griping give the following : 

No. 85. 15 to 20 Drops oil of peppermint, 

1 Ounce ol laudanum. 

If the w^eather is cold, blanket and walk the horse to assist in giving 
relief. 

In the case of the ox, give double the dose mentioned ; sheep one- 
quarter to one-third the dose for the horse, except of laudanum, of 
which give the sheep, 2 to 3 drachms. 

II. Colic. 

This may be of two kinds, spasmodic, *or flatulent colic. The first is 
the result of cramps or spasmodic contractions, causing severe pain with 
tendency to inflammation. The other of distension of the bowels with 
tendency to inflammation and rupture of the coats. 

How to know Spasmodic Colic. — There will be spasms of pain, with paw- 
ing, striking of the belly with the hind foot, looking round at the flanks, 
lying down and suddenly getting up, rolling, or lying stretched out for 
an instant ; then suddenly rising, the horse will shake himself as the 
pain intermits. Again the pain returns and the same performances are 
gone through. There may be frequent small discharges from the bowels 



346 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



and bladder, and during the attacks the pulse and breathmg are 
accelerated. 




TUK FIRST STAGS OF SPASMODIC COLIC. 



What to do. — Relieve the pain by means of an opiate, and cause move- 
ment of the bowels. To do this in mild cases the foUovnng will be good 
in connection with injections of warm water : 



No. 8G. 



}i to 1 Ounce of laudanum, 
4 to 5 Drachms aloes, 
1 Pint hot water. 




SKCOND STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC. 



Pulverize the aloes and dissolve in the hot water. Cool as quickly as 
possible and add the laudanum, and give as a dose. If there is abund- 
ant formation of gas, give the following promptly : 



No 87. 



X Ounce powdered aloes, 
1 Ounce aromatic ammonia, 
1 Ounce fc^nlphuric ether, 
1 ^ Ounce warm water. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



347 



Mix and give at once. Another colic drench in good repute is the 
f oUowino; : 



Ko. 88. 



4 Drachms aloes, 

1 Ounce sulphuric ether, 

1 Ounce laudanum. 




TUIRD STAGE OF SPASJIOUIU COHC. 



Mix, pulverize the aloes in a pint and a half of hot water ; cool, add 
the other ingredients and give immediately. If relief is not obtained, 
give as a second dose the following : 

No. 89. >^ Ounce sulphuric ether, 

>iOunce laudanum, 
yi Ounce spirits camphor, 
}i Ounce L»»cncu ot peppermint. 

Mix in a pint of gruel and turn down. The symptoms in cattle are 
uneasiness, shuffling of the hind legs when standing. When /ying down 
they will kick with the outer limbs. There will be moaning and twisting 
of the tail. The same treatment is advised as for the horse, except that 
one pint of linseed oil should replace the aloes. Give the doses by 
allowing the liquid to trickle down the throat very slowly. The doses 
should be double that of the horse. Swine should have castor oil one 
ounce in place of the linseed oil ; and sheep three-quarters of an ounce. 
Otherwise the doses should be about one-quarter to one-fifth those 
ordered for the horse. 

Flatulent Colic. — This disease is dangerous, and is generally the result 
of a chronic distension of the bowels, with tendency to inflammation and 
rupture of the coats. 

It may be the result of some other disease, or appear as a consec|uence 
of the spasmodic form ; or, may be produced by the same causes as 
those assigned to the acute form. 



348 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



How to know it. — The expression of pain is constant but not so acute. 
The pulse is rapid and feeble, with difficult breathing ; the feet and ears 
are cold : the abdomen is tense and swollen, and it sounds drum-like 
when struck. The animal is w^eak and sometimes delirious. The intes- 
tines are painful (sore) as is shown by the cautious manner of lying 
down : if, indeed, the horse lies down at all. 




FrU«T STAGE OF FLATULENT COLIC. 



What to do. — Be careful about giving purgatives. Act by injections 
of soapsuds and oil of turpentine ; removing the contents of the impacted 
rectum with the well oiled hand. Give the following injection : 



No. 90. 



H Pint oil of turpentine. 
1 Quart of soapsuds. 




HORSE DYING OF FLATULENT COLIC. 



Repeat in half an hour if necessary. If there is great distension 
puncture the large intestine, or, where the sound when tapping with the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 340 

knuckles is most drum-like, plunge in u trocliar and allow the gas to 
escape through the canula. Give the folloAving according to circumstances : 

No. 91. >3 to 1 Ounce laudanum, 

2 to 4 Ounces tincture assafcctitla. 

Mix in a pint of gruel. 

If the colic is the result of disease and exhaustion, with much swelling 
of the belly, try the following : 

No. 92. >2 Ounce chlorate of potash, 

% Ounce sulphuric ether, 
>i Tint water. 

To be given in a half pint of gruel. 

Later in this disease when it is required to act moderately on the 
bowels the following will be found useful : 

No. 93. >i Ounce chlorinated soda, 

2 to 3 Ounces aloes. 

Powder the aloes and dissolve the whole in a pint of warm water, and 
give when cool. During recovery, the health of the animal must be 
attended to. Give easily digested food ; avoid large draughts of water, 
and over feeding. Give good grooming ; blanket if necessary, and keep 
the circulation active by hand rubbing of the body and limbs. 

ni. The Bot. 

The female bot fly, ^strus-equi^ is too well known to need description. 
They lay their eggs on the legs, flanks, and other portions of the horse's 
body easily reached. The animal in licking its body takes the eg^ into 
its mouth and being swallowed they hatch, and the young fasten them- 
selves by means of their hooks to the mucous membrane of the stomach. 
Here they live and grow and the next season become mature and are 
passed from the animal, and undergo their transformation to the perfect 
fly in the earth. So long as the animal is in perfect health they do little 
if any harm. But in case of disease or insufiicient food they become 
troublesome. Or if they exist in great numbers when nearly or full 
grown and they are passing from the animal, they sometimes cause severe 
injury by attaching themselves to the sensitive lining of the bowels. 
This irritation is not easil}'' distinguished from other forms of indigestion 
or colic. 

In the Spring when the animal is hungry, and there is indication of in- 
testinal difficulty, they may be suspected. If the horse turns up his 
upper lip, and if the edges of the tongue are red and fiery looking, it 



350 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



will be evidence of their existence. At this time physic will hasten them 
away. A usual remedy is to give once a day for three days, 1 drachm 
sulphate of copper, to be followed at the end of the time with 4 drachms 
of Barbadoes aloes, and repeat at the end of a week if necessary. Or 
the followino; will be found safe and effective : 

No. 94. 1 ]4, Drachms calomel, 

1 }i Dracliius powdered savin, 
2 Drachms powdered assafoetida, 
30 Drops oil of male shield lern. 

Make into a ball with molasses and linseed meal, to be given at night 
and followed next morning with 4 drachms of aloes. 

In the South, Azedarach (pride of China) is grown around stables for 
its supposed eificacy in destroying bots by being eaten by horses. If so, 
it can only be while the bots are quite young. Since, after acquiring 
some age and becoming fastened to the stomach, they resist alike, strong 
acids, alkalies, irrespirable gases, narcotics and mineral poisons. 

Colics, etc., arising from bots, may be treated by anti-spasmodics as 
given under that head. As a preventive against bots, keep the long hairs 
of the jaws, breast and fore-limbs trimmed close, and apply a little oil 
daily ; and brush off any eggs that may be found. Animals kept in sta- 
bles and well groomed are seldom troubled with bots. 






tESTRCS HEMORRHOID ALIS. 



2.— Eggs magnified. 3.— The Bot. 4.— The 
Crysalis . 6 . —The male fly. 



Another bot fly ( (Estrus HemorrhoidaMs) resembles the oestris equi 
finite closely, and deposits its eggs upon the lips and upon the hairs 
under the jaw. Dropping into the food, they are swallowed and fasten 
^o the stomach in dens'e clusters. The larvae are somewhat longer in pro- 
portion to their bulk than the species equi. 

When ready to pass away they sometimes cause irritation of the 
bowels and anus by sticking there. The same means must be used for 
rh\s species as for the other. 

hiteslinal ivorms. — There are various intestinal worms that inhabit the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 35| 

horse, at least three species of tape worms and seven of round worms. The 
ox has two tape worms and seven round worms. The sheep one tape 
worm and seven round worms. A good vermifuge for tape worm is the 
following : 

No. 95. K Ounce powdered aloes, 

li Ounce powdered assafcetida, 
1 Ounce oil cff turpentine, 

1 Ounce sulphuric ether. 

Mix the two first in hot water and when cold add the turpentine and 
ether, and give in gruel as a drench. If the animal is weak and out of 
condition, give an ounce of areca nut, and follow with nourishing food. 
For round worms, if suspected, give 4 drachms of aloes, and if worms 
are found in the dung, give immediately on an empty stomach the 
following : 

No. 96. 1 Drachm oil of male fern, 

2 Ounces oil of turpentine, 
>a Pint linseed oil. 

Follow this for three days with a dose of 1-2 drachm sulphate of copper. 
For thread-worms in the rectum give an injection every two days for a 
week, of the following : 

No. 97. 2 Drachms oil of turpentine, 

1 Tint linseed oil. 

Inject every day for a week, a purgative dose to precede the first injec- 
tion. A strong decoction of wormwood is also a o;ood vermifuoe used as 
an injection. 

IV. Inflammation and Rupture of the Colon. 

This disability is usually the result of colic. If through constriction oi 
one part and expansion of another rupture actually occurs, the animal 
will die. The colon is the largest division of the intestinal canal. Be- 
ginning at the coecum, (the commencment of the large intestine) it ascends 
by the right kidney, passes under the holloAV part of the liver to the 
spleen, thence descends by the left kidney and passes in the form of an 
S to the upper part of the 6s sacrum. It thence runs straight to the anus 
and this part of it is called the rectum. 

How to know Rupture. — The sides of the flanks will be distended, there 
will be fever and heat, and the animal will give evidence of its severe suf- 
fering. The pulse will be hard, wiry and quick, the belly tender, the 



352 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

eurs cold ; the pain will be constant, and medicine will increase it. There 
will be great and rapidly increased weakness. The symptoms are directly 
opposed to those in colic. 

What to do. — In the first stages of the disease give the following, in 
lime water, every hour or two until three or four doses are given : 

No. 98. * 20 Drops tincture of aconite, 

^ Ounce laudanum. 

m very severe cases a hypodermic injection of 40 grains of chloral 
hydrate, to be at once followed by one of 3 grains of morphia, to be 
repeated in an hour ; this, however, must be performed by a competent 
surgeon. The following may be given by the mouth: 

No. 99. 10 Grains morphia, 

1 Ounce chloral hydrate. 

Give in sweetened water, and repeat every two hours until three or 
four doses are given, or until the symptoms abate. 

Extensive fomentations to the bowels will be beneficial. This may be 
done bv folding a blanket inside a rubber cloth which is fastened over the 
back. Keep the blanket soaked with water as warm as can be borne. 

If the disease be inflammation of the bowels, or enteritis, Avhether it 
does or does not follow an attack of colic, among the symptoms will be 
stretching of the lips upward. This may however be done when there 
* is abdominal irritation of any kind. If the 
inflammation be severe, so shown by increas- 
ed heat and fever, an ammoniacal blister may 
be applied. Dilute strong liquor of ammonia 
with six times its bulk of cold water, saturate 
a cloth with it and lay it on several folds of 
blanket, to be held to the belly by four men 
NOSE sTUAiNED UPWARD. ^y^Q y^r\\\ ^ot Hilud thc fumes. Tlic mauncr 

of holding it is shown in the cut on next page. 

Watch the action of the ammonia. It may blister within ten minutes, 
or it may take tAvice that time. Do not allow it to eat the skin, else a 
bad sore will be the result. When the [)roper effect is produced remove 
it at once. It should really be applied only under the direction of a 
veterinary surgeon. They are, unfortunately, not always near. In this 
case, to save life, something must be risked. The worst inflammatory 
symptoms being stayed, give every two hours until three or four doses 
are given, or a favorable result is obtained, the following: 

No. 100. 30 drains calomel, 

1 Ounce laudanum. 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



353 



Mix in half a pint of gruel. As the animal begins to take food it 
should have bran and oatmeal mashes, mixed with tea of slippery elm bark. 
Cooked food should be given, and if carrots are at hand, give a mess of 
them boiled every day. Skimmed milk is excellent if the animal will 
drink it. 




APFLICATIUN OF AN AMJIONIACAL BLISTER. 

V. Inflammation and Bleeding of the Rectum. 

This is a difficulty that often accompanies or follows inflammation of 
the bowels. 

How to know it. — There will be heat and swelling, with or without 
protrusion and bleeding of the rectum. 

What to do. — Wash the parts with a weak solution of salt and water, 
and also use injections of the same as often as may seem necessary. • If 
this do not give relief add a slight infusion of chlorate of potash and 
golden seal. 

VI. Spontaneous Salivation. 



Causes. — This infirmity is generally the result of or SA^mptom of some 
other affliction. It is often produced by something the animal has eaten. 
White clover will produce it. Caries and other diseases of the teeth : 
dentition, paralysis of the lips, ulcers of the mouth, irritating food; 
irritation by the bit, and especially from medicaments attached to the bits 
of horses by ignorant stable men. It occurs as a free discharge of saliva 
in frothy masses or in stringy filaments, with frequent swallowing, thirst, 
and generally indigestion. 

What to do — Remove the cause. If the cause is from alkalies, wash 
the mouth with weak vinegar. If from acids, use lime water. If from 



354 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



caustic salts, use white of egg, or tea of slippery elm bark. If there h 
inflammation with costiveness, open the bowels with injections of warm 
water, or soapsuds, and wash the mouth frequently with vinegar and 
honey. If this do not effect a cure wash the mouth with alum water. 
If there are ulcers touch them with a feather wet with the following : 



No. 101. 



10 Grains lunar caustic, 
1 Ounce distilled water. 



If there are tumors with pus, lance them. If there is sloughing wash 
Avith the following : 



No. 102. 



1 Drachm solution of permanganate of potassa, 
1 Pint i-ainwater. 



Give plenty of cool water, so the animal may take it at will, and feed 
with soft or boiled food, and if there is much swelling, keep the head 
tied up. 

VII. Inflammation of the Stomach. 

Causes. — This disease is not common in horses, and occurs rarely from 
eating vegetable poisons, and more generally from poisoning by arsenic 
given in the food by ignorant stable-men, to make the horse carry a 
shining coat and foam at the bit. It is also produced by the licking of 
external corrosive applications, thus producing acute gastritis. 




HOUSE SCFFERING PKOM ACUTE GASTKITIS. 



The symptoms are various in unison with the causes producing them. 
These are, refusing food, extreme thirst, redness of the nasal and con- 
junctival membranes, discharge of ropy saliva, frequent eructations with 
fetid smell, colic, rolling on the ground, pawing, striking at the abdomen, 
etc. ; tucked up flanks, heaving, panting, small, quick pulse, viok it 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 355 

straining, passing of mucus in large quantities, protrusion' and inflamma- 
tion of the opening, glances at the abdomen, prostration of strength, con- 
vulsions, madness and death. 

What to do. — The first thing, if possible, is to find out what caused the 
trouble. If this cannot be found, give at once : 

No. 103. 3 Ounces sulphuric ether, 

3 Ounces Jaudanum, 

4 Ounces carbonate of magnesia, 
1 Quart cold gruel. 

Mix and give as a dose. If the pulse be low, add to the above one 
drachm carbonate of ammonia. If the animal is weak, but able to swal- 
low, take plenty of time, do not use violent means. If there is paralysis 
of the throat, or the horse is in delirium, the dose must be injected 
through the nostril, hy means of a pump and pipe, or horse catheter. 
See article tetanus. As soon as there is evidence of recovery, and in 
fact whenever the animal will take it, thin starch or gruel of flour should 
be freely given to sheath the mucus surfaces. 

VIII. Soreness and Itching of the Anus. 

This is a disease following inflammation and disease of the rectum, 
and also produced by other causes. The anus or orifice of the rectum 
becomes sore. There is a peculiar dryness with scurf, and to relieve the 
itching the horse sometimes rubs the roots of his tail until the hair is en- 
tirely worn away. 

What to do. — Attend to the general health of the horse, to keep the 
bowels in a natural condition. Mix a little fine salt with lard oil, and 
keep the parts well oiled, with friction. If the trouble be inside, a little 
goldenseal well rubbed down with salt butter and passed carefully within 
the anus, will give relief. If the diflficulty is occasioned by worms, see 
that article. 

IX. Chronic Gastritis. 

Causes. — Anything which impairs the digestive functions may produce 
this disease. It is, however, in its chronic form, extremely rare. The 
ordinarv food Mill be refused, and the animal will persist in eatins: for- 
eign substances — old lime mortar, the wood work of the stable, earth, 
litter and bedding. 

How to know it. — There is a dry cough ; the membrane of the mouth 
and nostrils are dry and pale ; the breath is tainted ; the evacuations 
23 



356 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

fmell badly ; the eyes are sunk, the coat dry and ragged ; the horse loses 
condition and becomes pot bellied ; the anus is lax and prominent. 

What to do. — The cure will take time. Prevent the animal from in- 
dulging its unnatural appetite. The following made into a ball will be 
indicated. 

No, 104. K Grain strychnia, 

1 Draclim bichromate of ammonia, 
>^ Drachm extract of belladonna, 
1 Drachm powdered gentian, 
X Drachm sulphate of zinc. 

Give this as a ball once a day. If after continuing soveral days there 
is no improvement, give the f olloAving : 

No. 105. 14 Ounce liquor arsenicalis, 

% Ounce tincture ipecac, 
1 Ounce niuriated tincture of Iron, 
>i Ounce laudanum, 
1 Pint of water. 

As the animal gets stronger give an ounce of sulphuric ether daily in a 
pint of water. 

If the animal has simply chronic indigestion, that is, the disease does 
not show in the severe form we have depicted, to improve the general 
health the following will be indicated : . 

No. 106. 1 Ounce powdered assafcetida, 

1 Ounce powdered golden seal, 

2 Ounces powdered ginger, 

2 Ounces powdered poplar bark, 
5 Drachms powdered sulphate of iron, 
1 Drachm powdered red pepper, 
1 Pound of oatmeal, 

Mix, divide into sixteen messes, and give one every night in the food. 
In addition to this the following will make a good appetizer : 

No. 107. 1 Quart braudy, 

1 Ounce salt. 

Mix and give a wine glass full night and morning in gruel, just before 
the food. The food given must be of the very best, and that which is 
easily digested. Boiled oats, shorts and carrots, with sufficient good hay 
to distend the stomach. Keep the animal muzzled during the intervals 
of feeding, to prevenffoul feeding. That is, eating litter or other inju- 
rious substances. If acidity of the stomach be shown, moisten the hay 
invon, and sprinkle it freely with magnesia. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 357 

X. Spasm of the Diaphragm. 

Causes. — Hard riding or driving of a liorse constitutionally weak. 

How to know it. — If the horse is being ridden, there will be a sensa- 
tion to the rider as though a sudden blow was given inside the horse. 
This is from spasmodic action of the diaphragm (the midriff or muscle 
separating the chest from the abdomcjn) in drawing the breath. If the 
animal is still driven forward it sometimes suddenly falls and dies of 
suifocation. 

What to do. — There is no cure. Relief may be given by clothing the 
animal. Lead him to the nearest stable or shed and give the following : 

No. 108. 3 Drachms aromatic spirits of ammonia. 

3 Drachms tincture of ginger 
3 Ounces laudanum, 
1>» Ounces ether. 

Mix in a pint of oil or gruel and give as a drench, or give the followiiig : 

No. 109. Ja Drachm camphor, 

1 Drachm powdered ginger, 

1 Drachm carbonate of ammonia. 

Mix with sufficient linseed meal and hot water to form a ball. Repeal 
at an interval of three hours if relief is not afforded by the first dose. 

A horse subject to this affection should have only slow work. The 
diaphragm may be strengthened by giving for some time a daily dusc of 
one drachm of powdered sulphate of iron in the food. 

XI. Rupture of the Stomach. 

Rupture, when it ensues, ends pretty surely in death. Rupture of the 
stomach is produced by working or driving a horse until he is very hungr) 
and then feeding and watering unduly. The only symptoms which show, 
are violent colic, and the tenseness of the tissue. There are many rup 
tures where animals die, and the owner does not know what is the diffi 
culty. If the mischief has proceeded to rupture, the animal may ay weli 
be killed. 

One of the positions assumed by a horse suffering from abdominal 
hijuries, is this : He will persistently sit on his haunches. Animals 
will assume this position and yet occasionally recover. Another position 
assumed is, for the animal to kneel and support himself upon his hind 



358 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



legs. Such unnatural positions show the intense pain which leads to such 
attitudes to tjet relief. 




rNNATURAL ATTITUDR INDICATIVE OF ABDOMIJIiAL INJURY. 



XIT. Gorged Stomach. 

VV^hen this occurs from over feeding, the bowels should be immediately 
relieved by removing the contents by repeated injections of warm water. 
Let the animal be gently walked about, and warmly clothed in cold 
weather. The operator must act according to circumstances. If discov-. 




POSITION ASSUMED BY HORSE SUFFERING FROM ABDOMINAL INJURY. 

ered early, or before colic sets in, give the folloA\Ting to evacuate the 
bowels after having relieved them by injections : 



No. 110. 



6 Drachma powderetl aloes, 
1 Ounce sirup of buckthorn, 
1 Ounce tincture of ginger. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 350 

Dissolve the tilocs in a pint of warm water, add the buckthorn and gin- 
ger, and give as a drench. 

XIII. Inflammation of the Peritoneum. 

Inflammation of the lining membrane of the abdomen is likely to occur 
in all domestic animals. In ruminants the right side is most affected, and 
the animal Avill stand with its feet well too'ether. 

Causes. — Injuries either from rupture of the stomach or intestines, or 
from injuries to the abdominal walls, exposure to chill or cold, or giving 
an exhausted horse a wet bed to lie on. 

How to know it. — There may be colic, or steady pain. This will be 
acute when the affected parts are pressed. There may be chill and fever 
alternately, and loss of appetite. The pulse will be rapid and hard, and 
the breath quick and catching, but when effusion takes place the breath- 
ing will be deep and easier ; the pulse will soften, the belly will be pend- 
ent, and there will be fluctuations when handled, from the water contained. 

What to do. — In the early stages, give full doses of laudanum ; 1 to 2 
ounces, as may be needed, to allay pain and keep the bowels inactive. 
Apply mustard poultices to the abdomen, or in extreme cases the ammo- 
niacal blister as previously described. Frequent injections of thoroughly 
cooked gruel may be thrown into the rectum, but until the worst symp- 
toms are past the animal should take nothing into the stomach. As the 
disease progresses favorably, great care should be exercised in feeding. 
Oat or rye meal gruel may first be given. If these agree well, give warm 
soft bran-mashes, with a little oat meal added, and at length hay ^nd 
sound oats. 

In case absorption of the effusion of water in the cavity does not take 
place, which may be known by regular and ample staling, give 6 drachms 
potassa nitrate, daily, until the kidneys act. If tonics seem to be de- 
manded, give daily doses of 1-2 drachm oxide of iron. 

XIV. Strangulation of the Intestines. 

This is produced by various causes, the result of colic and rupture 
being the most frequent. Strangulation may be produced by the forma- 
tion of false membranes, by the involvent of the intestines, by the 
rupture of the mesentary, or by the rolling on itself of the intestine until 
it is entirely strangulated. In this as in other abdominal difficulties, the 
animal will often assume unnatural positions, as shown in the article 
Kupture of the Stomach. If it be a ruminant, and in good flesh, it is 
better to kill the animal at once. Some forms of strangulation in cattle 



360 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of sufficient value, may be remedied by a veterinary surgeon. In this 
case, give laudanum in 2-ounce doses to keep the animal quiet until the 
doctor arrives. Relief is obtained by cutting into the side and releasing 
the intestine. For the horse give opium in one or two drachm doses as 
the nature of the case may seem to require to relieve the pain, and trust 
to nature to effect a cure by releasing the parts naturally. 

XV. Functional Diseases of the Liver. 

The liver of the horse is not particularly subject to disease. It was 
formerly supposed to be almost entirely exempt, but later researches 
show it to be an agent, through obstruction, and the principal local seat 
of various disorders, as diabetes, blood poisoning from imperfect oxygen- 
ation of the albuminoids, etc. 

How to know it. — In active congestions of the liver, which is the dis- 
ease most usually prevalent and this principally in the South, there 
may be sluggishness, irregular bowels, abundant liquid discharges of 

deep 3^ellow or orange colored dung. 
There w^ill be extreme and painful 
prostration, the eyes will be sunken, 
the pulse excited, and the limbs will 
tremble. There may be colicky pains. 
If the last ribs arc struck with some 
force, extreme pain will be shown. 
If the horse faints and there are pal- 
lid mucus membrane, with quick and 
weak pulse, it ma}^ be conjectured 
"'-"T^H^^^^^^^'T^^'i^^^^^^ that rupture of the liver has taken 
TEST OF HEMouKiiAGK F.ioM TiiK LIVER. pjacc. lu tMs casc, thc cud is dcath . 

The illustration we give will show 
the test alike for ruptured liver and spleen. 

What to do. — In the beginning, that is when the pulse is strong, free 
bleeding will often check the disease. When the pulse is weak, blood 
must not be drawn ; or, if the blood does not flow freely, close the orifice 
at once. 

Apply mustard poultices to the limbs. Give one pound of sulphate of 
soda dissolved in a quart of water, to deplete the portal system and liver. 
Apply ice to the last ribs to check effusion. Apply a blister over the 
region of the liver. Continue the sulphate of soda in doses of one to 
four ounces daily. 

During the attack and recovery the animal must have pure air, and 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



361 



soft, easily digested food, and as recovery ensues, daily moderate exer- 
cise must be given. 

Inflammation of the liver is rare. If congestion has proceeded to 
inflammation the region of the last rib will be xoxy tender. There will 
be quickening of the pulse. The mouth will be hot and clammy ; the 
bowels may be at first loose, yellow and bilious, but soon become costive. 
The heat of the body is raised ; patches may appear on the mucous 
membranes ; and the limbs, especially the hind ones, will swell. 

What to do — In this case all bleeding should be avoided. Give as a 
purge a pound of sulphate of soda (glauber salts) aided by injections of 
warm water. After the bowels are opened, keep them so with small 
doses of glauber salts, six ounces, or, cream of tartar four ounces daily. 
If the horse eat anything it must be very light mashes, pulped roots or 
fresh grass. As the horse improves, give twice a day two ounces of 
Peruvian bark or two drachms twice a day of gentian. 

XVI. Parasites which Infest the Intestines. 



The general symptoms for intestinal worms, in large quantity, are 
general ill health. The animal will lose condition : the skin will be scurfy, 
dry and often itching ; the animal 
will become hide bound and pot 
bellied : the appetite w^U be irregular 
but voracious ; there will be fetid 
breath, diarrhea, passing of mucus 
with the dung, colicky pains, swelling, 
itching and puffy anus, and especially 
the passage of the worms or their 
eggs will be certain proof. The horse 
will raise the upper lip and rub it 
against anything near. Colts will pick 
and bite the hair from the body and 
limbs. The annexed cut will give a 
good general idea of an animal suffer- 
ing from worms. 

Besides the bot, alread}^ treated of, which inhabits the stomach, there 
are those of the intestines proper. These are the tape worm, round 
headed and flat headed, and five species of round worms. 

What to do. — Vermifuges are without number, some general in their 
nature, and others specific for particular classes. When worms are sus- 
pected, and the owner of the animal is not sure of the reality, it is safe 




COLT PICKING HAIR FROM ITS LEG, 
GIVING PROOF OP WORMS. 



362 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

to give a purge and watch the droppings. The following is a good 
vermifuge drench : 

No. 111. 4 Drachms aloes, 

1 Ounce powdered rcale fern, 
20 Drops oil of worm seed. 
Give this in a pint of warm gruel an hour before feeding in the morning. 

If it be found that there are tape worms, if the horse is weak, give an 
ounce of areca nut fasting and follow with 4 drachms of aloes. If the 
animal is strong, give an ounce of oil of turpentine in an ounce of water. 
In four hours give another dose and follow in an hour with 4 drachms 
aloes. In the case of common pin worms, {Sderost07num Equinum) and 
all worms inhabiting the bowels except the tape worm, the following 
vermifuge will act kindly : 

No. 112. 1 Drachm tartar emetic, 

>a Drachm powdered ginger. 

Mix with enough linseed meal to form a ball, then moisten with hot 
water and give a dose daily for a week, before feeding. Follow with a 
dose of one pint of linseed oil, wait another week, and repeat as before. 
Then give good generous diet, with tonics daily, say 2 drachms sulphate 
of iron, or 4 drachms gentian in the food. 

For worms lodging in the gut near the rectum, give an injection of a 
strong decoction of wormwood or tansey. The prevention of worms is to 
pay attention to the water the animal drinks, to be careful of dog's drop- 
pings in the pasture, and to give sound grain and hay as food, since lib- 
eral feeding and good general care will often extirpate the parasites. 
For other vermifuges see article 3 of this chapter. 

XVII. Diarrhea. 

Diarrhea is a condition of frequent watery discharges from the bowels, 
and may be produced by so many causes, as irritating and indigestible 
food, worms, severe purgation by medicines, disorders of the liver, or 
constitutional tendency, that no general rule can be given. The owner of 
the animal must find the cause before proceeding intelligently to give 
relief. The most we can do is to give some general indications. 

Sometimes diarrhoea is an effort of nature to rid the body of injurious 
matter ; then the effort should be aided. Early in the effort give the 
horse a pint of linseed oil, or if an active purge be required, a pint of 
castor oil. If the diarrhoea does not cease check it with ounce doses of 
laudanum and follow with tea of slippery elm bark, or linseed. If the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 363 

difficulty refuse to give way, doses of 2 scruples of tannin may be given, 
or, doses of 3 drachms of catechu every hour until checked. The ox 
requires double the dose. Follow with tonics, say 4 drachms of gentian 
daily, or one ounce of peruvian bark, with sound, easily digested food. If 
<^aused by bad water, throw a handful of charcoal in the water before 
giving it to drink. The following will be found beneficial in the several 
cases mentioned. 

For sour and fetid discharges mix the following ingredients in the food 
*wice or thrice daily. 

No. 113. 1 Ounce powdered chalk, 

1 Ounce bisulpbate of soda. 

For sour discharges with griping, take : 

No. 114. 1 Drachm powdered opium, 

1 Drachm powdered chalk, 
20 Drops carbolic acid. 

Form into a ball with linseed meal and molasses. 

If the bowels are simply in an irritable, relaxed condition, use the 
following : 

No. 115. 1 Ounce powdered chalk, 

1 Ounce catechu, 
1 Ounce ginger, 
1 Drachm opium. 

Make .into a ball with linseed meal and molasses. 

When the diarrhcea is the result of violent medical purging, try the 
following : 

No. 116. 2 Ounces laudanum, 

2 Ounces powdered chalk. 

Mix, and give in a quart of thin starch, or flour gruel. For excessive 
and continued purging, give at one dose the following : 

No. 117. 1 Ounce laudanum, 

1 Ounce sulphuric ether, 
20 Grains tannic acid. 

Mix in a pint of flax-seed tea. 

Astringent injections may be given as follows : 

No. 118. 2 Ounces laudanum, 

2 Drachms acetate of lead, 
1 Quart starch water. 



364 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Inject half of this and follow with the remainder in three hours, if nec- 
essary, or give at one injection the following : 

No. 119. 4 Drachms tannic acid, 

1 Pint starch water. 

In case of cattle the same quantities may be used, but when given by 
he mouth it must be made to trickle slowly down the throat. 



<^-H AFTER VII. 



DISEASES OP THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 



JAUNDICE. II. ENLARGEMENT OF THE SPLEEN. III. INFLAMMATION OF THE KID- 
NEYS. IV. PROFUSE STALING, OR DIABETES. V. BLOODY URINE, OR H.EMATURIA. 

VI. THICK AND ALBUMINOUS URINE. VII. WHITE, OR LIME URINE. VIII. 

GRAVEL, OR STONE IN THE BLADDER. IX. SUPPRESSION OF URINE. X. INFLAMMA- 
TION OF THE BLADDER. XI. FOUL SHEATH. XII. RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER. 

XIII. SPASM OF THE URETHRA. XIV. INFLAMMATION OF THE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



I. Jaundice. 



Tlie horse is subject to but few diseases of the liver. Jaundice or the 
}'ol!ows, is a condition in wbicli the visible mucous membranes, the skin 
(if it be natural!}' white) the urine and the tissues are stained yellow, 
not by non-secretion of the bile from the blood, but by the re-absorption 
of bile already secreted. 

Causes. — Obstruction of the bile duct from any cause. Obstruction of 
the bowels hindering the proper discharge of the bile. Diminished 
fullness of the capillary vessels of the liver from obstruction of the 
hepatic artery or aorta. And from undue secretion of the bile in cases 
of congestion of the liver. 

In solid hoofed animals the blood is easily dissolved. In flesh-eating 
animals it is not so. Hence, although there is often a jaundiced appear- 
ance of the membranes in horses, it is comparatively harmless. 

How to know it. — ^There will be a general coloration of the tissues. 
The mucous membrane will be yellow. The urine will be A^ellow. In 
obstruction of the bile duct the dung will be fetid, and of a clay color 



from being devoid of bile. 



'6''6b 



366 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

What to do. — No general rule can be laid down. The following is u 
good remedy for torpidity of the liver, when there is general dullness 
and biliousness. 

120. 1 Pound Epsom salts, 

1 Pound Glauber salts, 
1 Pound common salt, 
1 Ounce essence of ginger, 
1 Gallon warm water. 

Mix and give a pint from one to three times a day until a gentle but 
full purgation is produced. Follow this up with daily doses of one 
scruple of podophyllin. 

This remedy wdll also be indicated for cattle, except that they should 
have the following formula as a purge instead of No. 120 ; 

No. 121. y^ Pound sulphate of magnesia, 

>2 Pound common salt, 
2 Ounces powdered ginger. 

Give this dose in two quarts of water once a day until a free evac- 
uation of the bowels is produced, giving also daily one scruple of 
podophyllin. 

Saline purges do not always act kindly on horses. If so the following 
will be indicated if there is considerable congestion : 

No. 122. 30 Grains calomel, 

1 Drachm aloes,* 

2 Drachms soap, 

4 Drachms powdered rhubarb. 

Mix with molasses into a ball and give twice a day until a moderate 
operation of the bowels is had. 

If the disease occurs in the Spring, turning upon succulent grass, 
especially where dandelion is plenty, will generally effect a cure. 

II. Enlirgement of the Spleen. 

The pancreas and the spleen are subject to a variety of diseases, very 
difficult to determine. The pancreas is a gland which secretes the j^an- 
creatic juice, by which emulsion takes place with the fatty aliments by 
means of a duct leading into the intestines. The presence of fatty 
matter in the dung will imply a suppression of these juices. If there 
are sharp, colicky pains without fever, obstruction of the duct by calculi 
may be suspected. If there is general fever, with pain and tenderness 
behind the last rib on the right side, inflammation may be suspected. 

For calculi use fomentations of hot water over the parts affected, and 



THE HOKSE, ITS DISEASES. 



367 



give anti-spasmodics, chloral hydrate in half ounce doses daily, or hyos- 
cyamus extract two drachm doses, or belladonna two drachm doses, as 
the case may be. 

If there is inflammation give laxative medicines, one and a half ounces 
dandelion ; blister the right side, and confine the animal to light diet. 

For suppressed secretion give one ounce doses of sulphuric ether. 

So far as affections of the spleen are concerned, it is an in vol vent in 
diseases of the liver and other glands. In highly fed animals enlarge- 
ment ensues ; in badly fed ones degeneration or wasting. Obstructed 
circulation through the liver will engorge the spleen almost to rupture 
sometimes. In tuberculosis, cancer, glanders and blood poisoning it is 
affected. Anthrax and other fevers tend to enlargement of the spleen, 
sometimes to rupture. So little is really known of the spleen and its 
true functions, that but little can be done except by giving general atten- 
tion to the health and by means of tonics and good nursing to build up 
the health. 

III. Inflammation of the Kidneys. 




SYMPTOMS ATTENDING DISEASES OP THE URINARY OKGANS. 



Causes. — Inflammation of the kidneys. Nephritis, is produced by a 
variety of causes. Blows on, or sprains in the region of the loins, cal- 
culi, the excessive use of diuretics to w^hich some stablemen are prone, 
musty fodder, or that which contains irritant plants, etc. 

How to know it. — There Avill be more or less fever, sometimes a high 
fever : colicky pains ; looking at the abdomen ; the horse will lie down 
with extreme caution ; frequent passages of urine in small quantity, but 



368 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



very high colored, sometimes containing blood and even pus ; the legs 
swell uniformly from the hoofs up ; the pulse is rapid, the bowels costive 
and the breathing excited ; the horse straddles in his gait ; this, however, 
is a general characteristic of all diseases of the urinary organs, but in 
severe inflammation it amounts almost to helplessness. 

There is, however, one test that is constant : there is extreme tender- 
ness of the bony processes about six inches from the spine in the loins, 
pressure over the kidnej^s will show the terrible pain from the crouching 
attitude the horse assumes. 




TEST FOR INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS. 



If the urine is examined under a microscope, the fibrinous casts of the 
kidney tubes will be found. In chronic cases, stocking of the legs, casts 
in the urine, more or less tenderness upon pressure of the loins, and 
general ill health, may be all that will be observed. 

What to do. — In acute cases, if there is a strong pulse and the animal 
is full of blood, bleeding may assist a cure. It is not always safe, except 
under the advice of a veterinarian of modern practice. Bleeding should 
never be practiced except in the earliest symptoms. Give an active 
cathartic. 



No. 123. 



1 Drachm calomel, 

4 Drachms powdered aloes, 

Make into a ball with linseed meal and molasses. 



Wrap the loins in woolen blankets and foment thoroughly with an in- 
fusion of a handful of digitalis leaves in a pail of boiling water, putting 
it on as warm as the hand will bear it ; or wring a sheep skin out of hot 
water and apply the flesh side, changing as often as may be necessary. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 369 

To assist the evacuation and ease the pain give injections of linseed tea, 
one quart, to whicli an ounce of hiudanum is added. Get up a good sweat 
if possible. This will relieve the kidneys. Keep the bowels gently open 
with laxatives and relieve the pains with anodynes, and as the animal im- 
proves, give bitter tonics, 3 ounces of Peruvian bark daily in three doses ; 
or an ounce of gentian in two drachm doses three times a day. 

IV. Profuse Staling, or Diabetes. 

This disease, called by various names, as diuresis, diabetes insipidus, 
poluria, etc., is simply an excessive secretion of urine, causing loss of 
flesh, weakness, and at lengih terminating in exhaustion and a general 
breaking down of the system. 

Causes. — The most common cause is dosing with quack medicines, a 
favorite pastime of ignorant stablemen, especially for "the water." It is 
also produced by musty hay and grain, new oats, distiller}^ sIojds, acid 
diuretic plants, or any cause irritating the stomach and at the same time 
stimulating the kidneys. 

How to know it. — There is excessive thirst, profuse and frequent 
staling, of pale colored urine, thin, and with little odor ; loss of condition 
and spirits ; the appetite fails ; the skin is hard and dry ; the hair harsh .- 
the pulse will be weak, whether fast or slow ; depraved appetite for lick- 
ing noxious substances. 

What to do. — Change the food at once, w^ell seasoned hay and grain, 
with linseed tea given freely in the drink. The horse must not suffer 
from thirst, but inordinate drinking should not be allowed. Iodine is 
one of the chief specifics in this disease. The following will be a good 
formula, to be given three times a day in water : 

No. 124. 20 Grains iodine, 

1 Drachm iodide of potassium, 
4 Draclims carbonate of soda. 
Mix, and give in water. 

Or, give daily the following : 

No 126. 2 Drachms phosphate of iron, 

2 Drachms iodide of potassium, 
4 Drachms Peruvian bark. 
Mix, and give once a day in water. 

If this does not soon show a disposition to check the disease, add 15 to 
20 grains of creosote daily. 

Another good formula, to be given once a day, or in bad cases twice 
daily, is the following : 



370 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 126. 30 Grains iodine, 

2 Drachms sulphate of iron, 
^ Ounce powdered gentian. 

Give as a ball, made with molasses and linseed meal. If four or five 
doses do not show decided effect discontinue. Six or seven days should 
effect a cure. 

V. Bloody Urine, or Hsemafuria. 

Causes. — Sprains or bruising of the loins, stone in the kidneys, urinary 
passages or bladder ; blood poisoning. 




HORSE SUFFERIXG FROM BLOODY URINE. 



How to Determine the Condition. — If fiom local irritation, the blood 
being in a healthy state, there will be clots of blood passed, and fibricious 
casts of the urinary tubes entangling blood globules. These may be 
seen with a good lens. If there is gravel more or less gritty matter will 
be passed. If from blood poisoning, the tests must be made by a vete- 
rinary surgeon, from the urine, who can then prescribe the proper 
treatment. 

Wliat to do. — The general practice is to give sound food, good shelter, 
mucilaginous drinks, as linseed or slippery elm tea, or marsh mallow tea. 
Also acid astringents, vinegar, buttermilk, a weak decoction of white oak 
bark. If the passages are profuse apply cold water to the loins. If 
there is inflammation foment with warm water (cloths saturated with hot 
water) and follow with a mustard plaster. If the bowels are inactive, 
give the following; : 

No. 127. 4 Drachms aloes, 

1 Ounce cream tartar. 

Mix in one and a half pints of warm water and give when cool, aiding 
the operation by an injection of one quart of soap suds and four ounces 
oil of turpentine. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 371 

VI. Thick and Albuminous Urine. 

This disability in horses, characterized by a thick, ropy, albuminous 
discharge of urine, is quite common in its milder forms, being an attend- 
ant on extensive inflammation of important organs, on rheumatism, 
fevers, and some conditions of blood poisoning. It is especially attend- 
ant on inflammation of the kidneys, both acute and chronic, attended 
with degeneration and shedding of the epithelium (the layers of cells) 
lining the kidney tubes. 




POSITION ASSUMED BY HORSE HAVING ALBUMINOUS URINE. 

How to know it. — There are two special positions assumed by horses 
suffering from severe secretion of albuminous urine. One is the stretched 
out position. In the other the back will be roached, as seen in the cut. 
In its mild stages the urine is thick, ropy, mucilaginous ; when it first 
begins to flow, of a reddish-brown color, but changing to a more natural 
condition, ending with a whitish, milky fluid ; sometimes the reverse ; 
commencing white. When the disease is farther advanced the urine is 
thicker, more deeply tinged, and sometimes offensive to the sense of 
smell. It may degenerate into a number of forms, and finally terminate 
in Bright' s disease of the kidneys. 

What to do. — Place the animal where it may be comfortable ; clothe 
warmly. If there is inflammation of the kidneys, foment with a sheep 
.>kin wrung out of hot water ; or better, with an infusion of a handful of 
digitalis (Foxglove) in a pail of scalding water, and use other measures 
recommended in this article. If it be thought necessary to liquify the 
irine, not always beneficial, prepare the recipe given on the following page, 
aud exercise great care in the attendant treatment as there prescribed. 
24 



372 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 128. 1 Ounce powdered assafcetida, 

2 Ounces powdered juniper berries, 
8 Ounces powdered poplar bark. 

Mix, divide into eight parts, and give one night and morning in the 
food. 

The real animus should be to remove the cause, which, as we have 
stated, is various. Attend to the general health of the animal, keep the 
bowels open by a free use of bran mashes and other food of an opening 
nature. Give a laxative if necessary — say, 5 ounces salts, and Peru- 
vian bark 1 to 2 ounces daily at two or three doses. 

VII. White, or Lime Urine.- 

The urine is one of the agents used by nature to pass away the excess 
of calcareous or other stony matter from the body. So long as the con- 
ditions are normal, even when limy secretions are excessive, it may be 
nature's means of removing this excess. When the urine becomes albu- 
minous, the calciferous matter unites with the albumen, and the result 
is calculi. 

How to know it. — A white matter will be passed at the end of each 
urination, or the urine may become decidedly limey. 

What to do. — Attend to the general health of the horse, give none but 
sound oats and Indian corn, and sweet clean hay from upland meadows. 

Sand-like Deposit in the Bladder. — Sometimes a sand-like deposit, 
or soft maorraa is made in the bladder, and to such an extent that the 
urine flows involuntarily and constantly by drops. The remedy is by 
means of a stomach pump and catheter, to fill the bladder with water. 
Shake up the contents with the hand introduced through the rectum, and 
allow the water to flow through the catheter. So proceed to again pump 
full and empty until all the deposit is cleaned. 

When an animal is inclined to this disability, 1 drachm of caustic soda 
oriven daily in the water will correct the secretion. 



& 



VIII. Gravel, or Stone in the Bladder. 

The existence of urinary calculi, whenever found, is due to the de- 
posit of mineral matter around some body as a nucleus. This may consist 
of mucus, fibrine, blood-clot, or even of a crystal deposited from over- 
saturated urine. 

Causes. — They are so various that it would be useless to enumerate 
them. Impaired breathing, whether from weak or diseased lungs, imper- 
fect action of the liver, or impaired functions generally, are among the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 87;j 

prominent causes. Any cause favoring concentration of urine might 
bring about the formation of calculi. 

How to know It. — Cistus calculus, or stone in the bladder, occurs in all 
domestic animals, producing straining in the effort to pass the urine. It 
will escape in .driblets, often drop by drop, or not at all. Blood will often 
be passed in clots, and crystals of microscopic calculi will be passed. 
By introducing the oiled hand into the rectum up to the bladder the stone 
may be felt. Sometimes there are a number of them. 

What to do. — 111 the case of a female the stone may be broken with a 
lithatrite. In the case of a male the operation is called lithotomy. The 
male is operated on standing, or else throAvn on the right side. The 
operation must in any event be performed by a competent surgeon, since 
it involves cutting and the use of instruments that may not be attempted 
by the novice. 

Preventive Measures- — The seed of Jamestown weed, or thorn apple 
{Datura stramonium) has been given with good effect in preventing the 
formation of large calculi. Give an ounce of the powdered seed in the 
feed every other day until six doses are given. In connection with this 
give the following : 

No. 129. 1 Ounce oil of juniper, 

1 Ounce oil of sassafras, 
4 Ounces sweet spirits of niter. 

Form into four doses and give one morning and night for two days. 
Animals predisposed to gravel should be fed on sound hay from old 
meadows, sound grain, and watered only with soft water. 

IX. Suppression of Urine. 

Causes. — Retention or suppression of urine is due to so many causes, 
especially in old horses, as paralysis of the bladder, meningitis, lockjaw, 
severe colic or other acute disease, or from irritating drugs given by 
ignorant stablemen, that the operator must be informed as to the nature 
of the case. 

What to do — If it be caused by paralysis the urine must be drawn off 
several times a day with a catheter. The following will be indicated to 
V)e jriven intern all v : 

No. 130. Ji Drachm extract nux vomica, 

1 Pint water. 

Give as a drench twice a dav. 



374 ILliUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Another remedy, if one has a hypodermic syringe, would be 



No. 131. 4 Drops sulphuric acid, 

2 Grains stryclinine, 
Vt Ounce alcohol. 

Throw one-half of one grain twice daily under the skin.' 
If the difficulty is due to general weakness of the bladder, give the 
following stimulant : 

No. 132. 20 Grains powdered cantharides, 

1 Drachm powdered digitalis. 

• Make into a ball with soap. 

If there is an accumulation of hard fseces in the rectum it must be 
removed by full injections of strong soap suds, and if necessary removal 
of the partially softeued dung with the oiled hand. 

If there is inflammation of the neck of the bladder, as shown by heat, 
swelling, tenderness, give injections of one drachm extract of belladonna 
in a quart of warm water, thrown repeatedly into the rectum of horses 
and into the vagina of mares. To relieve pain give from one-half to two 
drachms of opium as may be needed. 

X. Inflammation of the Bladder. 

Causes. — A disease very rare in animals, and when occurring the effect 
of violent external injury, or the result of irritating medicines, as croton 
.oil, cantharides, administered by the ignorant. It is quite rare, and may 
be known by the frequent passing of urine, with great pain and difficulty. 
As a sure test grasp the horse by the mane half way between the head 
and shoulder with the left hand ; place the right hand under the flank 
when all nervousness is passed, press more or less strongly on the abdo- 
men. If inflammation be present the animal evinces intense pain. If 
the muscles be tense and hard there is no inflammation. 

What to do. — Give full doses of opium, two drachms, to relieve pain. 
Give linseed tea, milk, and white of eggs beaten up with water as drinks. 
As a laxative to relieve the bowels give one to two pints of olive oil as 
may be needed. Inject into the bladder the following if you have an 
instrument : 

No. 133. 1 Drachm opium, 

1 Drachm gum arabic, 
1 Pint blood warm water. 

In severe cases the ammoniacal blister may be applied, as given on 
the next page, if there is paralysis of the parts, with or without 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 37o 

fomentations. The acute symptoms havinj^ subsided, give small doses of 
copaiva, one to two drachms, or buchu, two to three drachms, as may 
seem to be needed. Give soft or sloppy diet, with linseed tea, slippery 
elm, gum arable, or other mucilaginous drinks. 

XI. Foul Sheath. 

A horse w^itli a foul sheath is unfortunate in his master, unless the 
difficulty occurred before purchase. 

What to do. — Clean the sheath of all foul matter with warm soap suds, 
removing all lumps. To wash the sheath, take hold of the yard when 
protruded, and without undue violence hold it with gentle pulling until 
there be no resistance when it may be pulled out its entire length. When 
Avashed, oil thoroughl}^ with lard and salt, three parts of lard to one of 
salt. Every other day or every three days wash again and oil until a 
cure is effected. 

XII. Rupture of the Bladder. 

This difficulty occurs only in the female, the result of difficult parturi- 
tion. The animal strains violently, and on examination a red, tumid, 
rounded mass is shown between the lips of the vulva. 

What to do. — Wash the parts carefully with tepid water, in ^vhich an 
ounce of laudanum has been mixed with each quart. Then return care- 
fully, bv pressing the center of the mass inwards to correct the eversion. . 
The difficulty will be in returning it through the neck of the bladder. 
There will be more or less inflammation and softening, therefore care, 
judgment and time must be used, not to tear the tissues. If there is 
renewed straining, place a truss or compress over the vagina. 

XIII. Stricture of the Urethra. 

Stricture of the urethra is the result of local irritation, the results of 
gravel, or of strong astringent injections. The symptoms are difficult 
urination, watli great pain and frequent erections. The cure must be 
effected by the use of catheters, gradually increasing them in size until 
the normal condition is regained. 

XIV. Inflammation of the Organs of Generation. 

a. — In stallions, there is occasionally inflammation of the testicles, 
caused by external injury and other causes. It may be known b}'^ the 



376 ' ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

swelling of the parts, a straddling gait, with drawing up and again let 
ting down of the testicles. 

What to do. — Give a purgative, 4 drachms aloes in 1 1-2 pints water. 
Foment the parts twice a day with warm water. Then dry and apply ex- 
tract of belladonna or laudanum. If pus (matter) should form, known by 
fluctuation of the parts, open at the soft part. If the gland is involved, 
and there is threatened destruction of the part, castration had better be 
performed. 

b. — Inflammation of the Womh. 

Causes. — Bruises or other injuries at the time of giving birth, or in 
getting rid of the afterbirth ; retained afterbirth, or exposure to wet or 
cold after parturition. 

How to know it. — Two, three or four days after parturition, there will 
be an attack of shivering: pains, with looking at the flanks, similar to 
those in colic ; shifting of the hind feet ; the loins and abdomen tender, 
with aching of the loins ; the vulva red and swollen ; there is frequent, 
straining with fetid discharge. The oiled hand being introduced into the 
womb, the neck and body will be found filled with fluid ; the belly will 
be tense and swollen ; the respiration and pulse will be increased, and the 
temperature of the body hot. There will be grinding of the teeth, great 
thirst and loss of power in the limbs. 

What to do. — After having drawn out the contents of the womb with a 
catheter, fill it again with tepid water, introduced through the tube, and 
wash out thoroughly. Then inject one drachm permanganate of potassa 
in a pint of lukewarm water, adding four ounces of glycerine and half an 
ounce of laudanum. Give a purgative dose to move the bowels freely, 
4 drachms Barbadoes aloes for a mare ; (for a cow, 1 pound of glauber 
salts). Follow this with 20 drops tincture of aconite four times a day for 
the mare; (for a cow, 30 drops). Give also once a day 5 drachms 
nitrate of potassa, and also once a day 1 to 2 drachms chlorate of potassa. 
Apply a blister of mustard to the right flank of the mare, or for a cow, 
mustard and oil of turpentine. If there is a weak pulse, prostration and 
stupor, use stimulants ; quinine in 15 to 20 grain doses, camphor and 
whisky : also antiseptics, chlorate of potassa, 1-drachm doses, or carbolic 
acid 1-2 drachm doses in a pint of water. 

c. — Leucorrhoea, Catarrh of the Womh or Vagina. 

The same general treatment is to be observed as in the foregoing. It 
may be known by a whitish discharge from the vulva if caused by re- 
tained afterbirth. Repeat the injection recommended for inflammation 
Qf the womb, daily, and keep up the system with tonics s-nd good food. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



o77 



The following will form a good tonic, appropriate in any enfeebled condition 
ot the mare, but especially so in the forms of disease just treated. 



^^' ^^* 2 Drachms sulphate of iron. 

1 Drachm black pepper, 
}i Ounce ginger, 
>i Ounce gentian. 
Divide into three doses for each day. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DISEASES OP THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 



I. TEETHING, OR DENTITION. II. SHEDDING TEETH. III. BLIND TEETH. IV. DECAY 

OF THE TEETH. V. SCUKVY. VI. STUMP SUCKING, OR CRIB BITING. VII. LAM- 
PAS. VIII. INFLAMMATION IN AND AROUND THK MOUTH. IX. SLAVERING. X. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE TONGUE. XI. SHARP AND PROJECTING TEETH. XII. SCALD 

MOUTH. XIII. APTHA. XIV. INFLAMMATION OP THE PAROTID GLAND. XV. FIS- 
TULA OF THE PAROTID DUCT, 



I. Teething, or Dentition. 

Dentition in the horse has already been wi'itten of and illustrated in 
the map given in this work. In teething, all animals suffer more or less 
from irritation and fever of the parts, probably as much so as the human 
family. In puppies and in kittens it often causes convulsions between 
the third and sixth month. Cattle are principally troubled between the 
second and third year, and horses from the third to the fourth year, since 
in the third year the}^ cut four front teeth and eight back ones, and in the 
fourth year four front back teeth, eight back teeth and the four tushes 
Hence the reason why it is advised that at this period of their lives they 
be not hard worked. 

In both cattle and horses the rising teeth are sometimes entang^led with 
the teeth that are being shed. There will be redness, swelling, tenderness 
of the gums, and the inflammation sometimes extends to the throat, 
causing coughing and general fever. 

What to do. — ^If there is slavering ; if the animal seems to chew hard 
food with pain, or bolts soft food with haste, examine the mouth. Ex- 
tract the loose teeth ; lance the gums to allow easy dentition ; wash the 
gums with tincture of myrrh : relieve the bowels if necessary with gentle 
378 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 370 

laxatives, and give as much rest and soft food as possible. Swine from 
the sixth to the twelfth month usually cut thirty-six teeth, and sometimes 
require attention. 

II. Shedding Teeth. 

In the shedding of the teeth the mouth should be examined frequently 
for loosened teeth, to find if the new teeth are growing properly. If 
they are likely to become crowded, causing twisting, they should be 
straightened, and if necessary one of them extracted to allow them to 
grow pVoperly. Sometimes there will be disease of the membranes sur- 
rounding the roots of the teeth, causing loosening, deviation from the 
proper course, suppuration, and even shedding of the teeth with much 
pain, even to inflammation and other diseases of the gum. Relief is to 
be given by careful examination, keeping the bowels open with soft food, 
such manipulation as may be necessary, sponging the gums with tincture 
of myrrh, lancing the gums, and extraction of the loose teeth when 
necessary. 

m. Blind Teeth. 

Supernumerary teeth may occur among the nippers and grinders. 
When so they should be extracted. Blind, or wolf teeth, are not super- 
numerary, but natural as they are insignificant, and would not be necessary 
to notice here w^ere it not from the fact that ignorant pretenders have 
given the impression that they are the cause of blindness, big head, and 
even apoplexy or staggers. These teeth are certainly useless, and occur 
in horses (not in mares) immediately in front of the grinders and may 
be extracted without difficulty or injury, care being taken that they be 
not broken and thus irritate the gums. 

IV. Decay of the Teeth. 

The teeth of horses under an artificial system of management, are quite 
subject to decay. Usually this is found in the grinders, although it 
sometimes, but rarely, occurs in the nippers. 

Causes. — Anything that will destroy the enamel or corrode the teeth, 
strong mineral medicines, fermentation in the stomach, breaking of the 
teeth by biting hard substances, or natural causes from increasing age. 

How to know it. — The horse will suddenly drop the food from the 
mouth ; slavering and exhibition of pain. This means toothache in its 
acute form. The general symptoms are imperfect chewing of the food. 




380 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and consequent finding of whole grain in the dung ; indigestion, un 
thrifty state of the hair and skin, irritability, loss of condition, generally 

with swelling of the legs ; swelling of the 
jaw-bone about the carious tooth, quidding of 
the partially chewed hay, accumulation of food 
around the tooth, and between it and the cheek. 

What to do. — Put a balling iron in the 
horse's mouth, and examine the jaws for bro- 
ken or decayed teeth. If suspected, tap it 
gentl3^ If there is inflammation, lavice the 
A HORSE WITH TOOTHACHE. affcctcd puTts, aud spougc with tincture of 

myrrh. If the tooth is ulcerated, it is better 
to extract it at once ; if not, it may be cleaned and the cavity filled with 
gutta-percha. If tender from exposure of the nerve, it must be relieved 
or deadened with crystalized carbolic acid and powdered opium, before 
filling. As a rule, in extensive caries, the tooth may be extracted. If 
so, the opposing tooth must be occasionally rasped down. The extract- 
ing of teeth, however, should only be undertaken by a veterinary surgeon, 
except in the case of loose teeth, which may be extracted with a large 
pair of forceps. 

V. Scurvy of the Teeth. 

Old horses are subject to deposit of calcareous matter, by which the 
teeth become ridged with a white scurf, extending down upon the gums, 
inflaming them and keeping them sore. This is generally confined to the 
front teeth. Young horses also sometimes suffer from this disability. 

Causes. — Imperfect digestion and sour stomach, evolving gases, or any 
cause injuring the enamel of the teeth. 

What to do. — First, find if his system is in good condition, or put 
it so. Put a twitch on the animal's nose and with proper instruments 
remove the incrustations. Files, scrapers and fine emery paper are the 
means to be used, the teeth afterwards to be oiled. In ordinary cases, a 
stiff brush and a mixture of tartaric acid and salt will do it ; rubbing 
afterwards with clean, hard wood ashes. Keep hard wood ashes and salt 
where the horse may take it at will. 

VI. Stump Sucking, or Crib Biting. 

Stump sucking is when a horse rests its teeth against any projection, 
arches its neck with spasmodic action of the throat, chest and flanks. 
Crib-biting is when the horse seizes the crib or other hard substance be- 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 381 

tween the teeth and pulls, with or without spasmodic action. Wind 
sucking is when the horse suddenly seizes any hard, firm substance with 
its teeth, pulls back, sucking in the air, sometimes with so loud a spas- 
modic action, noise and groans that it may be heard for a long distance, 
with swallowing and eructation. 

What to do It is probably more generally connected with disease 

of the teeth than is generally suspected, and these should be immediately 
examined for cause. At length it becomes a confirmed vice. Relieve 
aiiy disabilities from the teeth. The remedy is to allow no surface uncov- 
ered with sheet-iron where the horse may reach it. Smearing the front 
of the manger with aloes has been recommended. A muzzle with two 
iron bars projecting from the lower jaw over the mouth and extending 
over and between the nostrils, will prevent the vice. If the disease be 
pure wind-sucking, a strap fastened tightly about the upper part of the 
neck will prevent the effort, but there is danger of the horse becoming 
a roarer. 

VII. Lampas. 

Lampas is congestion of the palate ; a redness and swollen condition 
of the bars of the mouth behind the upper front teeth, caused by denti- 
tion in young animals, and in old ones from indigestion, causing pain in 
chewing from the protrusion of the tender parts. 

What to do. — If in young horses, the means advised in dentition, with 
slight cutting (scarifying) of the roof of the mouth, with a sharp knife 
or lancet will suffice. In old horses, scarification, with a general atten- 
tion to the health of the animal will be indicated. In scarifjdng, cut 
only about an inch back of the teeth, and never deep. Just behind the 
third bar an artery lies near the surface, difficult to manage if cut throuo-h. 
Hence the care required in bleeding in 
the roof of the mouth. Should, by ac- 
cident the artery be severed, put a strong 
cord around the upper front teeth close 
to the gums, and strain it as tightly as 
possible. This will generally close the 
orifice and stop the bleeding. As a wash 
for the gums, the following will be good : ^uRj^i^a for lampas. 

No. 135. 1 Oz. chlorate of potash, 
2 Ozs. soft water. 

Never burn the bars of the mouth for lampas. It is as senseless as it 




382 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

is brutal and cruel. Never use caustics. The bars of the mouth ar*) 
useful to the horse, as the palate is to man, and may not be tampered 
with with impunity. 

VIII. Inflammation in and Around the Mouth. 

Causes. — Irritation from wounds, bruises, acrid or poisonous plants, 
savage bits, injuries from the bit, twitch or rope around the under jaw 
and tongue, medical irritants, bites or stings of reptiles or insects, the 
use of calomel and other salivating drugs, fungus growths, specific 
fevers, etc. 

How to know it. — There will be difficulty in feeding and drinking, sla- 
vering with or without fetid saliva, swelling and rigidity of the lips, 
cheeks or between the bones of the lower jaw, blisters or sores within 
the mouth, swelling of the glands, etc. 

What to do — Find the cause, whether from mechanical injury, irritating 
food or irritant drugs. If injured by alkalies wash with vinegar and 
water, equal parts ; if by acids use lime water or a weak solution of 
bicarbonate of soda ; if caused by caustic salts use mucilage of slippery 
elm, or white of egg ; if from venomous bites apply ammonia and give 
one-half ounce of liquid ammonia internally to the horse, and one-half 
to one ounce to the ox. For bite of venomous snakes, tarantula, etc., 
cauterize the wound in addition and give whisky in full doses. If there 
is simple inflammation, open the bowels with a gentle laxative, two ounce 
doses of magnesia, and wash with vinegar and honey. Give plenty of 
cool water and soft food. If there are ulcers, touch them with a feather 
dipped in 

No. 136. 10 Grains lunar caustic, 

1 Ounce rain water. 

If there is much swelling keep the head tied up. If tumors resolving 
into matter (pus) appear, open with a lancet or knife. If there is slough- 
ing of the parts (separation of dead flesh) wash with the following; 

No. 137. 1 Drachm permanganate of potassa, 

1 Pint of water. 

IX. Slavering. 

Causes. — The result of mercurial salivation, symptoms of various 
affections, as apthous fevers, epilepsy, cutting teeth, ulcers of the mouth, 
irritating food, alkalies, acids, bad fodder, etc. White clover will often 
cause undue secretion of saliva by the glands. 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 383 

It may be known by the free discharge of saliva, great thirst and often 
indigestion. 

What to do. — Find the cause and remove it. Give cold water to drink, 
and sound grain, grass and hay. Use as washes 
for the mouth, vinegar and water or vinegar 
and honey. If the saliva is offensive, use water 
slightly tinctured with carbolic acid as a wash, 
and attend to the general health of the animal. 

ErFKCT OF CRUEL USE OF THE BIT. 

X. Inflammation of the Tongue. 

How to know it. — There will be ditficulty in eating and drinking. The 
tonoue will be swollen and inflamed, sometimes hano:in<r from the mouth. 

What to do. — Use the same means recommended for inflammation of 
the mouth, first having thoroughly searched for wounds from any sharp 
substance having punctured and remained in the tongue. If the tongue 
hangs from the mouth put the end in a bag, and support it wdth tapes 
extending from the corners of the mouth and tied behind the ears. Great 
relief may be afforded the suffering animal by this means. 

XI. Sharp and Projecting Teeth. 

The remedy for this disability wdll be obvious. Secure the animal, put 
a twitch on its nose, if a horse, and a balling iron in the mouth and file 
the teeth until smooth and even, using a rasp made for this purpose, flat 
and with a slightly crooked handle. 

XII. Scald Mouth. 

Causes. — The ignorant use of acid drenches or corrosive drugs by 
careless or ignorant stable men. Medicines of unusual strength are 
sometimes sent with directions for diluting. If labels were carefullv 
read, and directions implicitly followed, there would be less of this 
distressing malad}^, often ending in chronic disease of the stomach. 

How to know it. — The mouth is red, often raw ; the lips are in constant 
motion, moving up and down; the saliva flows continually, showing the 
pain the animal endures. 

What to do. — Give well-made cold gruel, either of com or oatmeal, 
and soft food if the horse can take it. Boiled carrots are excellent if 
the animal will eat them. Prepare the folloAving lotion : 



384 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 138. 5 Ounces of powdered borax, 

2 Pounds of honey, 
1 Gallon of boiling water. 

Mix, let it become quite cold ; hold up the horse's head moderately and 
pour half a pint into the mouth. At the expiration of half a minute 
allow the head to gradually drop so the fluid may flow over the inflamed 
surfaces. This should be repeated several times a day. Beyond this 
nothing can be done except to attend to the general health of the animal, 
which should do no work until entirely recovered. 

Xin. Aptha, or Thrush. 

A disease incident to sucking animals and young horses, generally 
occurring: in the Spring and Fall. 

How to know it. — Red patches will appear on tongue, cheeks and lips, 
which assume a whitish color, caused by a fungus growth 
(^cediumalbicaris). The lips swell; the tongue hangs 
out of the mouth ; vesicles form containing a clear, 
gelatinous fluid. At length these burst ; crusts form 
and recovery ensues. 

What to do. — Give the animal soft food as recom- 
mended for other mouth diseases. Wash the mouth 
with the lotion prescribed for scald mouth, or prepare 
equal parts of honey and powdered bayberry bark into 
a paste, with which anoint the affected parts every night. 
To purify the blood and promote the general health give the foUovving . 

No. 139. 1 Ounce flow^ers of sulphur, 

1 Ounce powdered sassafras bark, 

2 Ounces powdered golden seal. 

Mix, divide into four portions and give one every night in scalded 
shorts allowing it to get cold. Or give it in cold gruel as a drink. This 
prescription will be found valuable in any case and for all farm stock 
when the blood is thick and inclined to humors. Give fully grown swine 
half the dose prescribed, and full grown sheep one-third the dose ; that 
is, divide into eight doses for swine and twelve for sheep. 

XIV. Inflammation of the Parotid Gland. 

Causes. — This gland, which lies in the hollow that extends from 
the root of the ear to the angle of the lower jaw, sympathizes with in- 
flammation of the upper part of .the throat, and becomes hot, tender and 
swollen in almost ever case of cold. It is liable to inflarair.ation also 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 385 

from mechanical injury, and from obstruction of its duct. In bad cases 
of strangles or distemper, it will sometimes swell to great size and will 
break, a fistulous sore being the termination. 

How to know it. — When the gland has become swollen, it is easily 
discernible by sight or feeling. There is a hard and painful lump be- 
neath the ear, with a softer feeling about its edges. The horse carries 
his head stiffly, chews slowly and with difficulty, and has some general 
fever. 

What to do. — As this state of the gland is alniost always preceded by 
cold, and is accompanied by it, the treatment must be first directed to 
the removal of the exciting cause. Place the animal in comfortable sur- 
roundings, attend to the state of his bowels, giving 3 ounces glaubers or 
epsom salts, in case of constipation, and a few warm mashes. Mean- 
while, cover the affected gland with a good poultice until the inflammation 
is subdued. 

If inflammation results from mechanical obstruction, that obstruction 
must of course be removed before any permanent relief can be obtained ; 
and this may require the removal of a calculus or stone from the parotid 
duct, which can be safely done only by an experienced surgeon. 

If attention is not directed to the swelling until matter is forming, 
allow it to approach the surface and come to a head before attempting to 
open, to avoid cutting any of the ducts, which might result in a fistula. 
If the tumor becomes hard, use iodine, almost to the extent of blistering. 

Any wound inflicted mechanically, as a cut into the gland, or a prick 
with a stable-fork, must be treated externally according to its nature — 
the main point being to close it so effectually that the salivary fluid which 
it is the office of this gland to secrete cannot escape through the wound. 

XV. Fistula of the Parotid Duct. 

Causes. — The parotid duct, which is formed by a union of the smallei 
ducts of the parotid gland, enters the mouth after it leaves the gland, in 
front of the large masseter muscle of the cheeks — having passed for 
some distance upon the inner side of the jaw, and then turned under the 
lower border of the bone. The saliva secreted by the parotid gland, 
which lies at the spot where the neck joins the jaw, is poured into the 
mouth by this parotid duct, to be mingled with the food during the pro- 
cess of mastication. If the mouth of this little tube is closed in any 
way, so as to prevent the free egress of the saliva, distension of the duct 
takes place, and the confined secretion causes suffering, inflammation, 
and finally rupture. This stoppage is sometimes caused by hayseeds or 
other particles of food that enter the mouth of the channel while the 



386 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

animal is feeding. The presence of food in the mouth and the motion 
of the jaw stimulate the action of the gland, and since the saliva thus 
secreted cannot escape by its natural opening, tliere is constantly more 
and more pressure until some outlet is found. This, as we have said, 
may be by bursting, or it may be by external accident. A wound inflicted 
on the jaw with any pointed instrument, as a hay-fork, has been known 
to penetrate this channel. The saliva thereupon pours through the open- 
ing, and by its constant flow it prevents the healing of the wound, so 
that its edges speedily become hard and Avithout that liveliness essential 
to the closing of punctured or gashed flesh. 

The stopping of this passage into the mouth is said to have been some-' 
times caused by calculus or stone in the cheeks of the animal. These, of 
a size exceedingly large in proportion to the size of the duct in which 
they lodge, have been taken from the jaw. 

Every wound which penetrates this or any other duct of the salivary 
glands soon becomes a fistulous and offensive sore ; the fluid secreted by 
the gland finds its way out through the false opening, while none of it 
enters the mouth to perform its natural function in preparing the food 
for the stomach, so tliat the horse soon begins to lose flesh, and finally 
assumes a wretched and loathsome appearance. 

The opening of the parotid duct occasionally occurs, perhaps, from the 
opening of abscesses attending strangles or distemper. 

How to know it. — The digestion necessarily becomes deranged when 
the process of mastication is carried on for any considerable length of 
time without the foods being moistened by that secretion which the paro- 
tid duct in a healthy condition furnishes ; but the orifice in the skin under 
the jaw or on the cheek at the large muscle, discharging a liquid some- 
what resemblino; the white of an efjg:, is the unmistakable indication of 
the disorder under consideration. Durins^ the act of feedinfij this fluid is 
freely discharged, even sometimes squirting from the wound, and especi- 
ally so if the food is dry and hard to chew. It will be noticed that in 
chewing the horse uses the opposite side of the mouth from that on 
which the opening occurs, and that the process is slow and diflicult. The 
edges of the wound soon become callous, the running of the stream down 
the cheek destroys the hair, and the Avhole part has a fistulous and filthy 
appearance. 

What to do — In the first place, especial care must be taken to keep 
the animal, during the period required for effecting a cure, upon food 
that requires no chewing. It should be sufficiently plentiful and nutri- 
tious to prevent the uneasiness of hunger. Soft mashes and gruels alone 
■should constitute the diet. Another precaution is necessary when he is 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. ' 387 

left to himself — that is, to tie him up in such a way as to prevent him 
from rubbing the wound. This can be done by having a lein at each side 
of the halter, and tying it up, one to each side of the stall, and sutii- 
ciently back and high up to keep him from putting his jaw against either 
the trough or the wall against which it stands. 

If the wound has recently broken, shave the edges so as to remove all 
roughness and bring them closel}^ and evenly together. Then cover with 
collodion, putting on coat after coat until it is strong enough to keep the 
wound from bursting. 

If the sore is of long standing, and the case evidently obstinate, the 
first care must be to determine whether the channel has become closed 
between the Avound and the mouth, as sometimes happens. If so, make 
u new one and keep it open by passing a thread thi-ough it. This thread 
must have a flat button affixed to each end, one inside the mouth the 
other outside the wound, to retain it in place. It should not be so closely 
shortened by the buttons as to prevent its being slipped a little, first one 
wa}^ then the other, until the w^alls of its passage have become callous or 
firm, and not likely to adhere. It must then be withdrawn, and the way 
being open for the secretion to escape into the mouth the outside wound 
must be closed. To do this, make an adhesive fluid by saturating gum 
mastic with the strongest spirit of wine, or by dissolving India rubber in 
sulphuric ether. Pare off the edges of the wound till the healthy skin 
and flesh are laid bare, which mny be known b}^ bleeding. Now wash the 
.?urrounding parts thoroughly with w^arm soap suds, so as to remove the 
oily secretion from the skin and hair, and render the latter dry, so that 
an adhesive preparation may the more readily stick. When the bleeding 
has stopped and the hair is dry, lay over the orifice a piece of India 
rubber, and over that a cotton cloth. Fix the cotton firmly by means of 
the adhesive fluid above mentioned, first attaching one side, then, when 
that is dry and firmly fixed, stretching and fastening down the other 
edge. Continue to fasten on these strips one after another in this way — 
some of them cross-ways — until there is a good bod}^ of them ; then 
thoroughly saturate the whole with the adhesive fluid and tie up the 
nnimal as already directed. When his reins are loosened in order that he 
may eat, he must be watched to see that he does not rub and re-open the 
wound. 

This one covering, as described, is generally sufficient to effect a cure ^ 
but if it falls off before the orifice is entirely closed, wait a day or two, 
still feeding on soft food, and then put on another coat of the India 
rubber, cotton, and mastic solution ; and so continue until a cure is 
effected. 

25 



CHAPTER IX. 



DISEASES OF THE HEART, BLOOD, ETC. 



I. THUMPS. II. SCROFULA. III. FEVER, OR GENERAL INFLAMMATION. IV. ENLARGE- 
MENT OF THE HEART. V. FATTY DEGENERATION OF THE HEART. VI. ENLARGE- 
MENT OF THE ARTERIES. VII. INFLAMMATION OF THE JUGULAR VEIN. VIII. INFLAM" 

MATION OF THE ABSORBENTS. IX. SCARLATINA. 



I. Thumps. 



Palpitation of the heart, or thumps, as it is usually called, may occur 
from fright, in highly fed, irregularly worked animals, but is not as a 
rule connected with structural disease of the heart. 

Causes. — Indigestion, some blood diseases, sudden excitement or fright 
in animals predisposed to nervousness. 

How to know it. — The action of the heart will be violent and convul- 
sive ; the beatings can be seen, felt and heard. The disorder comes on 
abruptly, generally from excitement, has perfect intermissions with ab- 
rupt jarring thumps, and a jerking motion of the abdomen, and unaccom- 
panied by redness of the mucus membranes ; excited eyes, rapid breathing 
and a more or less sudden diminution of the palpitation. If signs of 
temporary excitement are not present ; if the attack comes on slowly, is 
constant with aggravated intervals ; if there is a heavy, prolonged, une- 
qual beating, with red mucus membranes and swelling of the limbs, it 
may be inferred that the difficulty is connected with structural heart 
disease. 

What to do. — Avoid sudden excitement and over-exertion, but giv^ 
regular but gentle exercise, stimulants and tonics. The following would 
be indicated as a stimulant, either whisky, or 1-2 ounce liquid ammonia. 
Give 15 to 20 grains digitalis twice a day in the feed, for some weeks. 

^388 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 389 . 

If there is a full, strong pulse, and increased size of the heart, add to 
the digitalis 20 drops tincture of aconite, twice a day, or drop it into the 
water given twice a day. If there is general debility, the following will 
be indicated, to be given twice a day for several weeks : 

No. 140 >i Drachm powdered mix vomica, 

1 Drachm extract of belladonna. 

Form into a ball with liquorice powder and molasses, and give. 

II. Scrofula. 

The horse is not subject to scrofula, as is man, and the lower farm 
animals. Swine are essentially scrofulous ; sheep are often so ; cattle 
more rarely, and horses least of all. Yet that this noble animal has the 
germs of this dread disease in his system, would seem to be indicated by 
ulcers on the liver, tumors in the glands, and tubercles of the lungs. 
Thus it may be found in connection with other diseases, or show itself in 
eruptive skin, or of the organs. 

What to do. — Stramonium, known to farmers as Jamestown or Jimsoii 
weed, is a specific. Give every other day half an ounce of the dried 
seed, bruised, or 20 to 30 grains of the stramonium of the druggists, 
daily. The ox may have from 1-2 to 1 drachm ; sheep 5 to 10 grains, 
and swine 4 to . 6 grains daily, the state of the bowels being carefully 
attended to by giving laxative food if costive, or if necessity occur, med- 
icine, Glauber salts in light doses. 

III. Fever, or General Inflammation. 

When from any cause injury is done to any part of the frame, or in- 
flammatory action is set up either in the tissues, membranes, or any of 
the organs of the body, heat is produced, and this is fever. This often 
becomes general from sympathy, thus in a measure relieving the pressure 
on the more closely affected parts. Fever is not the disease itself, but 
the result of disorganization, a symptom of disease, or internal disorder. 
In fact, a symptom of disease arising from sympathy of the system with 
disease of the animal economy. Remove the cause and the fever will 
cease. We may do something to alleviate it in connection with the treat- 
ment of the disease itself, but we must not lose sight of the latter. 

In intermittent fevers there is a cold stage, a hot stage and a sw^eating 
stage. These ma}^ vary in succession and degree, but the real difficulty 
is in a morbid state of the viscera, but particularly of the liver and 
organs employed in the formation of bile, and of the mcsenterv. lii 
fevers the tongue is coated. Yet no quack is so ignorant as to suppose 



,390 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the fever can be cured by scraping the tongue, and yet this is fully hh 
sensible as to suppose fever to be the disease itself when it is an effect of 
disease. 

In the horse fevers often manifest themselves through inflammation of 
the mucous or serous membranes, producing catarrh or influenza. When 
it affects the mucous surface of the stomach and bowels it produces 
extreme languor and debility. In pleurisy there is inflammation of the 
serous membranes within the thorax. The fever is the manifestation of 
tlie disease. In typhoid fever there is inflammation of the brain and 
viscera and especially of the stomach, intestines and peyers gland. The 
fever is the attendant simply upon the cause of the inflammation. 

Fever in horses has been described by the author of Hippopathology 
to be 1st. Common fever — a general diffuse inflammation. 2d. Idiopathic — 
arising without any apparent local injury. 3d. Symptomatic — arising 
from some local cause or irritation. The late Dr. Dadd, V.S., very truly 
says : 

"A rational system of veterinary medicine contemplates, in the treat 
ment of febrile symptoms, nothing more than a kind of expectancy. I ' 
the patient be in the cold stage, administer warm diffusible stimulant s 
and diaphoretics, aided by warmth and moisture externally; friction oi-. 
the extremities, and, if necessary, stimulating applications to the chest and 
the extremities. In the hot stage, and when the superficial heat of th'i 
body is great, cooling drinks are indicated : water acidulated with cream 
of tartar, makes a good febrifuge. The patient may be occasionally 
sponged with weak saleratus water. The alkali has a beneficial eifect on 
the cutaneous vessels, while the water lessens the temperature of th<; 
bod3^ No treatment, however, can be of any rational use, unless it 
contemplates a restoration of the healthy equilibrium of the whole system. 
Let the doctor treat the disease, and a good, attentive groom can manage 
the fever." 

In treating general fever or inflammation, therefore, we nmst first find 
the cause, and treat, giving such agents as have been indicated throughout 
this work, for the febrile symptoms as they occur. As a rule we do not 
advocate bleeding, but in the horse in the early stages of acute inflamma- 
tion, especially of the brain, and all that class of diseases which involve 
the general system, and when the blood is thick and dark, sometimes 
almost brown, bleeding may be practiced with success. It is never well 
however to bleed blindly. In apoplexy and that class of diseases, bleed. 
It is a case of life or death. For fevers in general there can be no 
specific. In diseases of the blood, accompanied hy fever, alteratives will 
be indicated both as a preventive and corrective of the diseased functions. 
Sometimes the condition of the absorbents are so inactive that alteratives 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 391 

cannot act. Here bleeding would seem to be indicated. Yet it is better 
unless in the case of life or death, that it be not resorted to, except 
under the advice of 'a competent veterinarian or physician. 

IV. Enlargement of the Heart. 

Hypertrophy or enlargement of the heart is an increase of its muscular 
substance and may be confined to one side or one ventricle. Sometimes 
disease of the valves leads to enlargement much beyond its usual size. 
Enlargement of the heart also accompanies broken wind and other im- 
pediments to the free action of the lungs and breathing tubes. 

Causes. — Long contifnued hard work ; chronic indigestion, or some 
obstruction to the circulation. 

How to know it. — There is palpitation, the beats forcible and prolonged, 
the intervals of silence shortened. The first sound is low, muflied and 
l>rolonged, the second loud, and if only one ventricle is affected some- 
times repeated. The pulse is as a rule regular, except under excitement 
of the animal, and, the excitement removed, soon returns to its usual 
state. The breathing is often hurried, and exertion increases the general 
sjanptoms in a marked manner. 

What to do. — Simple hypertrophy is seldom the cause of imminent 
danger. It is not unusual for horses with an enlargement of the heart' 
to do steady, slow, moderate work, and live to be old. If there is 
dilatation, weakness, blowing murmurs with the first heart sound, spells 
of oppressed and difficult breathing, if the nasal and other visible mucous 
membranes are livid, there is danger of sudden death at any time. 

Keep the animal quiet, and at only slow, moderate labor ; never over- 
load or put him to speed. Let the diet be of good, easil}^ digested food ; 
never allow the stomach to become overloaded. Give twice a day from 
20 to 30 drops tincture of aconite root as the case may need. If there is 
broken wind or other serious impediment to breathing, 3 to 4 grains of 
arsenic in the food has been found useful. If the case, however, be of 
long standing, or due to permanent obstruction, treatment must be simply 
alleviation. The case will eventually end in death. 

V. Fatty Degeneration of the Heart. 

This disease is occasioned by a change of the muscular substance of 
the heart to a fatty state, by w^hich the organ is weakened, at length lead- 
ing to rupture of its tissues. It is not uncommon in high-bred stock, 
including; cattle and swine. 



392 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Causes. — High feeding, inactivity, want of exercise, and the result of 
such diseases as purpura scarlet fever, and diseases the result of pro- 
found alteration of the blood. 

How to know it. — Debility in the circulation, irregularity and weak- 
ness in the pulse, lessening of the heart sounds, swelling of the legs and 
sometimes a general dropsical condition, dilatation, a want of correspond- 
ence between the heart beats and the stroke of the pulse, appetite irreg- 
ular and capricious, and the membranes of the mouth and nose a rusty 
red color. 

What to do. — Humor the appetite with sound, easily digestible food. 
There is no remedy. Attention to the general health, and an ounce of 
chlorate of potash twice a day in the food may mitigate symptoms when 
more violent than usual. In all heart or arterial diseases give rest, and 
in fattening stock, do so as quickly as possible. 

VI. Enlargement of the Arteries. 

Dilatation of the arteries (Aneurism), is rarely found. It is a thinning 
and weakening of the coats of the vessels, sometimes to bursting, causing 
a pulsating tumor containing blood. 

Causes. — Severe strains in the vicinity of an artery, blows, kicks, 
'stabs, or weakening from overstretching, as in fatty degeneration. In 
the mesenteric arteries of horses, they are common from immature 
worms (^Sderostomum equiiium) in the circulation. 

How to know it. — There is a soft, fluctuating, visible tumor if near 
the surface, which may be reduced by pressure, but which instantly 
reappears. 

What to do. — Treatment is not successful except when near the sur- 
face. Then steady pressure by a pad if taken early will sometimes cause 
its disappearance. An animal with enlargement of the arteries is un- 
sound and should never be bought. The same rule applies to all diseases 
of the heart. 

VII. Inflamed Jugular Vein. 

Causes. — This is due, for the most part, to bleeding, and the treatment 
to which the horse is subjected, or rather lack of treatment immediately 
after blood-letting. It is not to be attributed to any particular manner 
of bleeding, or to any awkwardness in its execution and in the closing of 
the wound. Some horses have a constitutional predisposition to inflam- 
mation upon any occasion of punctured veins, and the most skillful 
phlebotomist cannot avoid throwing theuj into this state unless care is taken 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 393 

after the operation to see that there is as little excitiiij^ cause as possible. 
Inflamniation may, indeed, result from bruising the vein in the act of 
bleeding, but this must be of so rare occurrence as to be scarcely worthy 
of notice. The same may be said of a large and ragged wound made by 
a bungling operator. 

The motion of the animal after bleeding, and rubbing so as to displace 
the pin and tow by which the wound is usually closed, may be set down 
as the ijreat sources of dano^er. If the horse is turned loose and allowed 
to graze about, hanging down his head and keeping it down at will, with 
his jaws in almost constant motion, inflammation of the vein is apt to 
result. So, if he is allowed access to food in a trough or stable. When 
allowed his freedom he is apt to rub the wound whenever itching sensa- 
tions supervene, as they are apt to, and the trouble is thus easily induced. 
If put to the saddle immediately after blood-letting from the neck, the 
bridle reins may rub the wound, and especially irritate it by disturbing its 
fastenings ; and if put to harness the collar may press the blood too 
violently and constantly against the orifice, and so bring on inflammation. 

How to know it. — The earliest indication is a slight opening of the lips 
of the wound, whence exudes in small quantity a thin, watery discharge. 
A slight swelling appears ; this is followed by a hard, cord-like enlarge- 
ment of the vein, which feels hot ; and there is some visible swelling at 
the angle of the jaw. The swelling takes place above the orifice, and 
the inflammation tends almost wholly in that direction. 

If neglected, the second stage of the disorder soon sets in. Abscesses 
form along the vein, and these flnally burst and dischai-ge a thin but 
filthy pus. These tumors are united at their bases by sinuses in the 
interior of the vessel. 

It may be reckoned as a third stage of the disease when the vein feels 
hard under the skin, and the abscesses discharge a dark, impure and 
stinking pus, resembling rotten blood. At this stage the horse gro^^■s 
dull and stupid ; then at last the inflammation extends to the brain, and 
a madness similar in violence and fatal effects to the rabies may supervene. 

What to do.— In the first place, "an ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure," and whenever it is necessary to bleed an animal, let it 
j})e done in as neat, skillful and expeditious manner as possible; then 
close the wound with care, leaving no part of the fastening pin to project 
over the suture or winding of tow or cord by which the lips are drawn 
close ; and at once tie up the horse in a stall. If the stall is contracted 
in width, it is all the better, as he will be less likely to stir unnecessarily. 

Tie the halter above and something back from the manger, so that he 
cannot rub his neck against the trough nor anything pertaining to that 
part of his stall. Give him no food that will necessitate chewing^ 



394 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

nothing but a sufficiency of thin, cool gruel, having in it no inflammatoij- 
ingredients, to prevent the absolute gnawings of hunger. Water may be 
given in as great quantities as he will take. 

Allow him to remain in this position twenty-four hours. Even then, 
do not turn him into a field, as the traveling to and fro, with the head 
often pendent and the jaws in motion as he grazes may yet cause inflam- 
mation. He may now, however, be allowed a more roomy stable ; but 
the food should be for another day only such as will necessitate no con- 
siderable chewing. This precaution will in all probability wholl}^ prevent 
inflammation, even in those cases where the animal has a strong consti- 
tutional tendency to it. 

These directions, however, are not to be understood as applicable to 
every case. When a horse is bled to relieve some sudden or acute local 
trouble, there is really but little danger of inflammation of the jugular, 
especially if the acute trouble is attended with marked local fever. 

When inflammation has actually set in, from whatever cause, the cure 
is easy and speedy, if steps be prom^Dtly taken to this end. If begun 
while in its simplest stage, place the horse at once in a stall, as previously 
indicated, and tie his head up during the day — giving him food. and drink 
b}^ raising a bucket within easy reach for the time. Then sponge the in- 
flamed part very frequently with the following lotion, as cool as it can 
easily be made : 

No. 141. 3 Ounces tincture of arnica, 

2 Ounces muriate of ammonia, 

4 Ounces methylated spirits of wine, 

3 Pints water. 

It will be more effectual if some soft padding is confined along the 
vhole extent of the inflammation, and this kept constantly saturated 
vvith the cold lotion. 

After the inflammation has subsided, mix biniodide of mercury and 
lard in the proportion of 4 drachms biniodide to 4 ounces lard, and rub 
the vein well with this, if it remains enlarged, every night until the new 
deposit has been absorbed, which will be known by its having produced 
a free Avatery discharge. 

The treatment thus laid down is intended to apply strictly to the first 
stage of the disease. When the second stage has set in before treatment 
is begun — that is, discharging abscesses along the vein — begin by remov- 
ing the pin and suture, if not already done, and then blister along the 
whole extent of the inflamed and tumorous surface by rubbing in effect- 
ually the oil of ca-tharides, or liquid blister. One blister must succeed 
another till every sign of the disorder has disappeared. If the case seems 
U) be violent and to yield slowly, one blister must not wholly cease to 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 395 

act until another coating of the oil has been applied — though this is not 
iiecessar^i except in very obstinate cases. If the liquid is to be applied 
over an old one, still raw, use a line brush with which to lay it on, and 
then cover over with an application of some unctuous oil to soothe the 
severe smart that presently sets in. Be careful always to have the blis- 
ter cover every spot where there is indication of inflammation. 

If the disease has progressed to that stage in which there is a foul and 
black discharge, the abscesses must all be joined by slitting up tlie inter- 
vening sinuses. Cut the whole extent of the hardened vessel except a 
l.ttle at each end, which must be left to prevent copious bleeding. Em- 
ploy a small, suitable probe, carefully and patientl}^ and cut along the 
track hidicated, from abscess to abscess. Then apply the liquid blister 
as directed, regardless of sores or cuts, and continue to do so until the 
part is but one blister sore and not a lot of discharging tumors. 

The vein Avill of course be destroyed. Whenever the corded and 
suppurating state sets in this is inevitable, as no human agency can 
restore its functions ; but this will not seriously interfere with the circu- 
lation, since the smaller vessels that ramify every part of the neck (as, 
indeed, of the whole system) soon accommodate themselves to the new 
order of things, and the life-current flows regularly on. It requires 
much time, however, to bring him to that condition in which he will not 
need more than ordinary attention. Throughout the day his head must 
l>e tied up to the rack, while at night he may be loosened so as to permit 
him to lie down. The floor should be covered with tan, as he would 
chew straw, and thus render cure more difiicult by that motion of the 
jaws which is to be guarded against. He should be kept this wav for 
from four to seven weeks, according to progress of recovery. Meanwhile 
his food should be hay tea, sloppy mashes, and cooling gruel moderately 
thick. No solid food sliould be allowed — no corn nor oats. Potatoes, 
carrots, turnips, boiled, reduced to pulp, moistened and mixed with bran 
form the besc diet. 

At the close of the time designated begin regular daily exercise — very 
little at first, but gradually increasing it, which may be continued for two 
or three months, during which time he should not wear a collar, or be in 
any way subjected to pressure about the neck. After three months he may 
be restored by degrees to the use of solid food ; but much care should 
be observed during a whole year, after which he may be considered 
measurably sound. 

Inflammation may follow bleeding from leg veins, and those elsewhere, 
but it is most common in the jugular and most troublesome. The treat- 
ment were prescribed is of course applicable in its general principles to other 
veins. 



396 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

VIII. Inflammation of the Absorbents. 

Inflammation of the absorbents (Lymphangitis), has a variety of 
names, among which are Weed, and Shot of Grease, and may be a con- 
stitutional case, or a mere local affection. In its constitutional form, it 
is found in heavy lymphatic, fleshy-legged horses that, hard worked on 
heavy feed, are left in the stable for days together. 

In its local form it is the result of wounds, bruises, injuries of various 
kinds, putrefying matter in and around the stable. It may occur from 
the specific poison of glanders, farcy, etc., and in the constitutional form 
may go on to abscess, sloughing and unhealthy sores, and death ; or the 
horse may be left with the limb permanently thickened. In the local 
form there may be abscess, diffuse suppuration, induration of the glands, 
and even the vessels and surrounding parts. 

How to know Constitutional Lymphangitis — There will be more or less 

shivering ; in bad cases severe, quickened breathing ; rapid, hard pulse ; 
a general feverish state, and fever in one or both hind limbs. Enlarge- 
ments may be detected high up in the groin, by the side of the sheath in 
the horse or udder in the mare, and great tenderness of the inguinal 
glands. The shivering fits will be succeeded by fever with burning 
sweats, swelled limbs, exudation and filling, sometimes to the body. 

What to do. — In mild cases, give moderate and daily exercise, pay at- 
tention to diet, ventilation, and cleanliness. If the case is more severe, 
give from 4 to G drachms of aloes, apply warm fomentations continually 
to the limb, with walking exercise The bowels having been thoroughly 
moved, give diuretics, an ounce of saltpeter in a gallon of water two or 
three times daily ; or 10 grains of iodine. In very bad cases, when the 
subject is plethoric, bleed from the jugular vein until the pulse softens, 
and proceed as before directed. For "thick leg," a chronic thickening 
of the limb, bandage from the foot up when the animal is in the stable, 
and apply tincture of iodine for four days, giving daily exercise ; or rub 
the limb with iodine ointment, and give the following once a day ; 

No. 142. ^ Ounce powdered resin, 

14 Ounce niter, 
10 Drops oil of juniper. 

Mix into a ball with liquorice powder and molasses. 
If abscesses form, open them with a sharp knife, and dress with the 
following : 

No. 143. 1 Ounce carbolic acid, 

1 Pint distilled water. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 397 

In the local form there will be slight swelling of the cords, and redness 
in white skins. The lymphatic glands will be enlarged along their course, 
and become nodular or knotty. There will be pasty swellings of the 
parts, and even erysipelas. 

What to do. — Give rest, and a purge of aloes as recommended for the 
chronic state. Wash the diseased limb with the following ; 

No. 144. % Dracbm opium, 

1 Drachm acetate of lead, 
1 Drachm carbolic acid, 
1 Quart rainwater. 

In case of excessive inflammation, poultice with flax seed or bread and 
milk to hasten suppuration. Open the suppurating parts to let out the 
matter, and dress with the carbolic solution as in the other form of the 
disease. 

IX. Scarlatina. 

Causes. — This disease, called also scarlet fever, is not considered 
contagious in its milder forms, but in a malignant stage it would doubt- 
less be as much so as the same disease in the human family. It is 
sometimes regarded as but a mild form of acute anasarca, and not 
entitled to be treated as a distinct affection ; but we cannot dwell upon 
the niceties of classification, and where the necessities of the case (the 
knowledge requisite for treating certain manifestations of disease success- 
fully) are met, it is not important that Ave should. 

It generally follows influenza and other affections of the respiratory 
organs ; and may be justly said to have its origin in colds, and in some 
cases, perhaps, in the breathing of vitiated air in close, dark, ill-ventilated 
stables. 

How to know it. — The patient exhibits great thirst, with a failing 
appetite, and evident w^eakness. He is more or less unsteady in his gait ; 
his breath is hot and stinking, and all the limbs are swollen. But the 
most unmistakable signs are elevated blotches on the skin about the neck 
and fore limbs, and scarlet spots, of variable size, oil the membranes 
within the nostrils. 

What to do. — First, remove the animal from its felloAvs, for fear the 
disease may develop into that putrid form which is found so contagious 
among children, and prove infectious. Give an occasional watery bran 
mash to keep the bowels open and allay fever. If this is not found 
sufiiciently laxative, give a dose of Epsom salts, or linseed oil. Guard 
against too active and violent purgatives. Mix three ounces liquor acetate 



398 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of ammonia with three ounces of coid water, and drench with this oncfl 
or twice a day, according to the violence of the fever, for three days. 
Meanwhile, sponge the elevated spots on the skin with a tincture of 
muriate of iron mixed with warm water ; or, if found more convenient, 
put two ounces of hartshorn (aqua ammonia) into a quart of soft water, 
and use that. 

There is a tendency in this disease to dropsical effusions, and the limbs 
become very much swollen, even during the treatment prescribed ; and 
by the third or fourth day a whitish mucus will begin to run slightly 
from both nostrils ; the scarlet spots will have spread and become redder. 
Give now, night and morning, one-half fluid ounce sweet spirits of niter, 
for four or five days. Discontinue to sponge the elevated spots, but rub the 
limbs closely and often ; and blanket the animal if necessary to keep him 
comfortable. The niter acts as a diuretic, and the dose and length of time 
it is given must be regulated by the effect upon the kidneys. If urine is 
voided too often and too freely, lessen the dose, or discontinue it alto- 
gether. Follow this up with a daily dose of twenty grains of sulphate 
of quinine for from three to six days, and continue to rub the limbs. 
When there are signs of returnmg appetite, give him, in addition to the 
bran mashes, a few oats and a daily small allowance of hay ; and j)lace 
him in a small inclosure, where he may have such moderate exercise as 
he may be prompted to take. Do not fail to supply him from the first 
with all the pure water that he will drink. 



CHAPTER X. 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



•t. HYDROPHOBIA, OR RABIES. II. MAD STAGGERS, OR PHRENITI-^. III. BLIND STAG 

GERS, MEGRIMS, OR VERTIGO. IV. APOPLEXY, OR SLEEPY STAGGERS. V. ABCESs 

WITHIN THE BRAIN. 



I. Hydrophobia, or Rabies. 

Causes. — This is the name given to a madness which generally arises 
from the bite of a dog, though wolves, foxes and cats are also subject to 
it by a spontaneous generation, and this bite is as fatal to another animal 
and to man as that of the dog. It is believed by some authorities that 
in rare cases hydropho'.ia arises spontaneously in the horse ; but of thit< 
there is no proof; arJ since it may have been communicated by some- 
thing of the dog or cat kind, even in those cases where all the outward 
signs arc lacking, it is safe to say that the horse takes it only by inocula- 
tion. He need not be absolutely bitten. The licking of bridle-bit sores 
at the corner of his mouth by a mad dog is sufficient to introduce the 
poison hy absorption ; and if the horse by any means chances to take into 
his mouth and stomach, with his food, the saliva or spittle of a mad ani- 
mal, he v.'ill very probably be attacked, and especially if the animal so 
dropping the spittle is suffering with the disease in its violent stage. 
The poison is known to reside in both the spittle and the blood of its 
victim . 

When once the virus has been generated in or communicated to any 
animal, hot weather, abuse, want of water, want of good food, will pro- 
duce that feverish state which is so favorable to its development ; and the 
greater or less time in which it manifests itself decidedly in horses after 
inoculation, is probably due to these conditions or the absence of such. 
The poison remains in the system, without producing the positive symp- 
399 




400 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

toms, from three to eight weeks. Some declare that a longer period than 
even eight weeks sometimes intervenes between inoculation and positive 
madness ; but such cases, if there are such, must be extBemely rare. 
They form the exception, and contradict the great mass of testimony on 
this subject. 

The remote cause — that which produces it in animals of the dog and 
cat kinds — we need not attempt to discuss, as it can have little if any 
practical bearing on the subject in hand. It may be well to observe, 

however, that most of tlie lower animals 
contract the disease when bitten by dogs 
that are violently mad, whereas among 
men it is widely different. Statistics 
seem to show that less than fifty per 
cent, of the latter take, the disease. It 
has been offered in explanation, that the 
bite is generally through clothing, that 
serves in many instances to cleanse the 
teeth of the virus before the skin is 
cousTEXANCEOF AiioRsKwiTHUABiEs. rcachcd. lu tlic casc of horses, the bite 

is generally on the lip — a sensitive and 
vascular part, where the absorbents are readily reached. 

How to know it. — Blood on the lips, or elsewhere, with marks of 
violence, are of course to be regarded as symptoms of dog bite, if any 
known occasion for such a thing has existed ; an*.^ for a few days these 
will be the only indications. If the horse is high 13d and full of blood, 
and the weather is hot, the poison may begin ;0 produce outward effects 
in from five to ten days by a swelling of the bitten parts, and by a diffi- 
culty manifested in swallowing. In from twelve to fifteen days there is 
perceptibly increased pulsation ; inflamed throat, with thickening of the 
membrane that lines it; from the fifteenth to the twentieth day the 
stomach inflames, and perhaps rejects food, — but nothing certainly can 
be stated as to this point, since here the symptoms vary greatly with 
different animals : in some cases the appetite is voracious, and so morbid 
that the sufferer will devour his own excrement and urine. Sometimes 
he will exhibit burning thirst and drink freely. Mobile again water will 
cause spasmodic movements and be avoided with.hori'or. But in general, 
the appetite is destroyed, and that dread of water which characterizes 
the disease in man is present in the horse. 

In a very short time the indications increase, and usually (as v/e 
have said, with full blooded, feverishly disposed horses, at a time of high 
temperature) before the twentieth day, absolute madness sets in. He 



THE HOUSE, ITS DISEASES. 



401 



nvw rubs the bitten part against anything convenient with increased 
violence ; sonietinies instead of rubbing he will bite and tear the wound ; 
the eyes assume a wilder and more unnatural appearance ; some patients 
neigh squeakingly, shove out the tongue, or gnash the teeth. The progress 
of the disease is 'now very rapid ; generally there is profuse sweating ; 
there is suppression of the urine, and inflammation of the parts of 
generation ; his countenance changes from a look of anxiety to one of 
cunning and a sort of grinning ferocity, and there is an irrepressible 
desire to bite man or animal — whatever living thing may be within reach ; 
he gazes sometimes at an imaginary object and springs and snaps madly 
at vacancy ; his propensity to destroy grows with his pain, and at last he 
wreaks his fury upon inanimate objects — the manger, or trough, the 
rack, whatever is seizeable in his stall is torn to pieces with his teeth or 
smashed with his feet ; if not confined he darts ferociously at whatever 
object of attack may present itself ; plunges about like a demon of 
destruction, snorts, foams, sometimes uttering a kind of crying neigh, 
and perhaps beats himself to death before the last and comparatively 
belpless stage comes on. • 




DESTRUCTIVE IMPULSE OF HYDROPHOBIA. 



If not destroyed before the disease has run its course, paralysis, 
usually confined to the loins and the binder extremities, sets in, and 
involves with it all those organs which depend for their nervous influence 
upon the posterior portion of the spinal cord. Unable to stand upon the 
hind legs, the animal will sit on his haunches, and strike and paw with 
his fore feet. The suffering is sometimes rendered more terrible by 
tenesmus or retching of the bowels, which seem dreadfully oppressed but 
have lost the power to act, while the kidneys are fevered and torpid and 
the urine cannot be voided. 



402 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

It sometimes happens that the disease is developed by exertion anq 
heat, when no previous indications have been manifest, and shows itself 
in a peculiar manner. The horse stops all at once in his work, heaves, 
paws nervously, trembles, staggers and falls. In a moment he will be 
up, and may, if put to it, proceed for a few moments, %vhen he will stop, 
stare about, and lie down again. This stage is sometimes mistaken for 
blind staggers, but it may be distinguished by observing that in blind 
staggers the horse loses his senses, while in hydrophobia he is always 
conscious, often acutely intelligent and observing. 

What to do — This is a disorder of so dreadful and dangerous a charac- 
ter that some of the ablest veterinarians do not hesitate to advise the 
instant killing of the sufferer ; and they refuse to give any directions for 
attempting a cure. When the furious stage has come on there seems to 
be a sort of demoniac maliciousness and treachery, with a watchful cun- 
ning, that makes it hazardous for friend or stranger to trust himself any- 
where within reach. It is extremely doubtful, too, whether recovery 
ever takes place after the madness is developed. 

Yet, it is not improbable that much'^nay be done in the way of preven- 
tion after the bite has been inflicted. Tlie first step is to check the flow 
of blood from the part, if possible, to prevent the rapid spread of the 
poison over the system. If a limb has been bitten, this may be done by 
tying a handkerchief around it, above the wound, and twisting with a 
stick until a sufficient degree of compression is had. Then cauterize the 
wound thoroughly, making sure that the very deepest recesses of every 
tooth print or lacerated place is reached. Lunar caustic is best, because 
most easily and surely handled ; but if impossible to get a stick of this, 
any convenient caustic may be applied, as oil of vitriol, nitric acid, caus- 
tic potash, butter of antimony, etc. : or, a small iron, not too sharp, 
heated to a white heat and cleaned of scales, M'ill answer if the animal 
can be kept still enough to apply without danger of injuring him other- 
wise. The handkerchief should be left on tight until the cauterization 
is effected. 

Cauterizing thoroughly, even two or three days after the injury, may 
result in saving the animal, as the absorption does not always speedily 
take place. 

If the wound is upon a part that forbids the use of the handkerchief, 
it may be cut open to its depth, and a freer flow encouraged, both by the 
larger opening and by squeezing and wringing — soaking, meanwhile, with 
warm water. Then use the lunar caustic wherever a sign of tooth mark 
can be seen. 

But when unobserved till the virulent stage has come on, it is not even 
known to science that anything can be done to save ; and the best, the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 403 

most merciful thing to do is to shoot at once. When there are strong 
symptoms of madness, but still some doubt, put him by himself in a sta- 
ble, bare of everything destructible except food and water, which must 
l)e placed where he can get it, and barricade the door. Leave a window 
open for observation, and keep him here until the symptoms disappear 
or hydrophobia is unmistakable — then act accordingly. 

II. Mad Staggers. 

Causes. — This disease is sometimes known by the more learned term of 
phrenitis (the delirium of fever ; frenzy, raving) ; but it will be by prac- 
ticjil men most readily recognized when treated of under its old and fa- 
miliar name. 

It is an inflamed condition of the brain and its covering, with effusion 
of the small cavities and the spaces between the membrane and the brain 
itself. Sometimes both the brain and its membranous covering are in- 
volved in this inflammation, sometimes but one, and that most frequently 
the membrane. 

It n:ay be caused by concussion of the brain by reason of bloAvs upon 
the head. The brutality of a driver, which flnds its gratification in usinsT 
the butt of his whip upon the head of the horse, may result in a frac- 
tured skull, to be followed by slight pressure upon the brain, a speedy 
fever and the consequent determination of too much blood to the head, 
which, combined with the burning inflammation, brings on this madness, 
perhaps death. 

Among the causes other than violence we may name the following ; 
The slugging of the vessels of the brain with clots formed elsewhere in 
the system by some abnormal action ; the growth of tumors upon the 
brain or upon its covering, from some remote and probably hidden cause ; 
sudden and great changes of temperature in the body brought about- by 
instantaneous exposure to extreme heat or cold ; over-exertion in pletho- 
ric or full-blooded animals, especially in hot weather ; congestion from 
close collar, short-drawn check, or tight throat-latch ; congestion from 
internal compression, as by over-loading stomach and bowels ; feeding on 
])arasitic grasses or smut, of which rye grass may be noted as the most 
hurtful ; infection of the blood by poisonous animal matter or fluids ; 
imprudent over-feeding and insufficient exercise. 

How to know It. — The symptoms often differ but little from apoplexy, 
comparing the^Vs^ stage of each, but they may generally be distinguished 
by this : that in mad staggers the horse is not so comatose, or sleepy and 
insensible, as in apoplexy. Light affects his eye a little, and he is sensi- 
tive to the whip, whereas the horse laboring under a genuine attack of 
26 



404 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



apoplexy seems blind, deaf, and without bodily feeling. In som^ 
instances in mad staggers, it is true, the animal may sleep till he drops, 
but on recovering himself he will manifest the sensitiveness above 
described. 

Occasionally, tlie brain alone is involved, in which case he is stupid, 
dull, and awkward of motion, the nerves of sensation and of motion 
being both affected ; and during this stage he will sometimes bore his 
head against some object ; at others he will rest his haunches upon his 
trough or anything else convenient. 

When the membranes covering the brain are inflamed, which is most 
general!}^ the case, there is restlessness rather than stujDor ; the horse 
trembles ; his general temperature is elevated, while there is great heat 
about the upper part of the head ; his pulse is excited, his breathing 
quick ; his eyes glare ; his movements are irregular ; he paws, stamps, 
champs his teeth ; an interval of stupor may occur, but even when just 
aroused from this condition of repose he is extremely excitable and trembles 
^'iolently. 




HOnSG DURING THE MAD STAGE OF STAGGERS. 



When the worst symptoms are rapidly developing themselves he begins 
suddenly to heave at the flanks ; his eyes brighten and his nostrils expand ; 
the pupil of the eye dilates to the utmost, and stares wildly and vacantly ; 
his breathing becomes shorter and quicker ; sometimes he will neigh 
uneasily ; his ears are erect and bent forward ; the membrane of the eye 
reddens and contrasts strangely Avith the clearness of the cornea or ball ; 
be becomes more and more excitable, and trembles at every sound, and 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 405 

dfelirium sets ill. He now dashes himself about with fury; his motions 
are sudden and violent, but without any disposition to mischief, as he is 
evidently unconscious. He sometimes becomes ferocious, and dangerous 
to all who may come within reach ; he then bites and strikes at those who 
come near him ; he plunges, rears upon his hind legs, whirls round and 
round and falls with dreadful force. He will now lie awhile exhausted, 
and his pulse and breathing are sloAver. 

At length the mighty anguish returns, and he becomes again a terrify- 
ing and dangerous animal. The second paroxysm is worse than the first ; 
he darts furiously at everything within reach ; sometimes bites and tears 
himself; and this continues until his former stupor returns, or until he 
ha*5 worn himself out and death puts an end to his sufferings. Each 
succeeding attack increases in intensity, and brings on increased weakness, 
so that his periods of stupor become longer and longer till at last he dies. 

In those cases where at first only the brain is involved the premonitory 
symptoms may continue a day or two, when the membranous coverings 
may become suddenl}^ inflamed and delirium speedily set it. Whenever 
the membranes are attacked the disease reaches its crisis in a few hours — 
there must be speedy relief or death will quickly follow. 

This disease may sometimes be mistaken for colic or for hydrophobia; 
but to distinguish from the former, notice that in the colic the horse rises 
and falls with less violence, and that though he sometimes plunges, he 
more frequently rblls about. He looks frequently at his flanks with an 
expression of pain, and he is all the time conscious. To distinguish it 
from hydrophobia, observe that while there is violence in the latter, and 
generally an inclination to do mischief, there is always consciousness. 

What to do — If the earlier symptoms — stupidity, sleepiness, awkward, 
staggery motions — are observed, apply ice cold w^ater to the head, both 
l)y pouring and bj- means of a sponge or rags secured betAveen the ears 
and along the forehead ; and bleed severe!}^ — not enough, however, to 
render the horse faint. Then give an active purge, as the bowels will 
almost invariably be found to be torpid and constipated. Use at first : 

No. 145. 7 Drachms aloes, 

4 Drachms castile soap, 
6 Drops oil of caraways. 

Mix with mucilage or syrup to form a ball, and give this quantity for 
one dose. If this is found, after four hours, not to have produced the 
desired effect, give one scruple of croton meal in water, if he will dnnk 
it ; if not, he must be drenched. This is a powerful medicine ; but it is 
of the utmost consequence that his bowels be free, and no effort must be 
spared to effect that object. If the croton cannot be bad, resort to the 
clyster (of warm soap suds), or to back-raking. 



406 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The bowels having been opened, give two or three times a day, the fol- 
lowing compound, the effect of which is to decrease the action of the 
heart and prevent the tendency of the blood to the head, as also to pro- 
mote the activity of the urinary organs : 

No. 146. 1 Drachm digitalis, 

1 }i Drachm tartar emetic, 
3 Drachms niter. 

Keep him in a cool, airy stall, and feed with the greatest moderation, 
o-ivin"- such o-reen and moist food as has a laxative tendency, and such 
quantity only, for a few days, as will'prevent gnawing hunger. 

But if the paroxysm has already come on when remedial means are to 
be adopted, seize the first opportunity, during an interval of stupor, or 
of comparative stillness, to bleed him till he falls, or, if down, till he 
grows faint and weak. Open the vein on both sides of the neck, if pos- 
sible, as the quickness with which the blood is drawn away from the 
brain is of almost as much consequence as the quantity. The operator 
must observe great caution, as the fury may return suddenly and with 
much danger to himself. 

If successful in bleeding, the next step to take is to purge in the least 
possible time. To affect this, use half a draclwi of croton meal. Some- 
times the horse will drink readily and freely, in which case the meal can 
be well stirred in water and given in that way ; but if jiecessary, pour it 
down him according to directions for drenching. If the meal of croton 
cannot be had instantly, give an ounce of aloes dissolved in hot water. If 
this does not act within four hours, give a quarter of an ounce more, and 
so continue till purging is produced. The next step is to give as a seda- 
tive the digitalis or powdered foxglove, etc., as previously directed. It 
may be necessary to back-rake and then give a clyster of warm soap-suds. 

All this will of course leave the creature in a dreadfully depleted and 
weak condition ; but the only hope of saving him lies in the use of power- 
ful means, especially when delirium has already set in. It may not be 
possible in every case to bring him back to fullness of life and usefulness, 
even with the best of care. At all events, he must be treated gently 
thereafter, and guarded from excitement, as the attack is otherwise likely 
to recur. 

in. Blind Staggers. 

Causes. — This disorder, by some called megrims, by others vertigo, 
and still by others dizziness, is not well understood ; and there is a diffi- 
culty in determining whether some of the forms it assumes ought not to 
be set down as separate diseases. The causes, however, that will produce 



THE HORSE, ITS DISE^VSES. 407 

certain manifestations in one horse will produce different ones in another, 
so that it may he readily inferred that the van'^ing symptoms do not mark 
different types of diseas^e hut mere difference of degrees ; and that the 
same general causes act throughout. 

The immediate cause is clearly pressure on the brain, resulting from 
unusual flow of hlood to the head. This is doubtless in some instances 
the result of a constitutional tendency — a predisposition to ejiilepsv — . 
that is brought to manifest itself on occasion of excitement, over-exertion, 
or general ill condition of the digestive apparatus. In others it is most 
probably a watery suffusion of the brain — the blood being subjected to 
some sort of decomposition in its passage through the head and leavino- 
the serum or water}' portion to collect there. 

The brain requires a proportionateh^ far greater amount of blood than 
any other organ : but a\ hile ample means are provided for supplvinir it, 
nature guards against doing this with that velocity which would eiidanjier 
it by overloading and rupturing. The arteries make their way throuoh 
the head in a peculiarly circuitous manner, and they enter throuofh minute 
bony holes that will not admit of much distension. When the horse is 
overheated, however, or when the return of the blood is impeded, this 
fullness takes place. In great heat the arterial passages are enlar<red to 
their utmost capacity, and the rapidity with which the now uncommonly 
heated and the thinner fluid makes its way into the brain is not counter- 
balanced by a similarly rapid return, and the effect is produced to which 
the various names referred to have been given. Impeded return of the 
blood from the extremities, through the veins, is caused bv a tight collar, 
pressing, during the act of pulling, upon the large or jugular vein, on 
one or both sides of the neck ; b}- a tight throat latch, producing a similar 
compression of the jugular : or by a check-rein drawn so short as to 
brins: down the head, and bend the neck to the extent of crowdino- its 
parts together and interfering with the circulation. Bv this compression, 
though the blood may not be forced to any undue arterial activitv, the 
large veins will be too long distended by reason of the sluiriiishness of 
return, and the small veins running through the substance of the brain 
will be so increased as to press upon the nerves at their points of orijxin 
and produce loss of power and of consciousness. 

The immediate cause, or pressure upon the brain, is doul)tless some- 
times to be found in tumors, arising from blows on the head, as Avell as 
in congestion, or too great fullness. 

Other remote causes besides those already named may be found in a 
diseased stomach and intestines. Inflammation of all the oro-ans of 
digestion and secretion may be brought on by the retention of great 
masses of indigestible food, and this clogged state superinduces cons^es- 



408 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

tion by a sort of internal compression, and this tendency is of course 
increased by rapid exercise and the consequent heat. That this is one ot 
the primary causes is evinced by the fact that constipation attends nearly 
every case. Indigestion and foul stomach are the natural results of con- 
finement in hot and badly aired stables, unwholesome food, or food in 
-excess of the quantity required by the amount of daily exercise, of 
extreme cold, of extreme heat, and of great fatigue. Hot weather, 
when the horse is of full habit, will sometimes derange the diofestive 
functions, and undue exercise will then quickl}^ develop a case of blind 
staggers . 

Draft horses, and particularly those that are young and of a plethoric 
or full blooded tendency, are most subject to it, though it is not confined 
to any age. It is rarely the case that a horse under the saddle is attacked 
with it. 

The dread of the whip, combined with the consequent fretting and in- 
terference with both the digestive and circulatory functions, is thought 
to produce it in sensitive horses. 

It is ordinarily regarded as an incurable disease. If there is an organic 
predisposition to epilepsy, entire recovery is of course out of the ques- 
tion ; and when a horse has been once attacked, though previously free 
from any such tendency, he is subject to a return of the complaint be- 
cause the vessels have been weakened by violence, and offer less resist- 
ance to the rapid flow of blood in the arteries, or the abnormal gathering 
of it in the small veins of the brain. 

How to know it. — In its final manifestations it is unmistakable ; but the 
careful and intelligent owner ought to be able to detect some symptoms 
of an appoaching attack in time to guard against its most hurtful effects. 
That condition of body which superinduces congestion by internal com- 
jiression and derangement is not difficult to detect, and attention to this 
may be the means of warding off a violent attack. This is indicated by 
an oifensive breath ; somewhat impeded respiration, or expelling of the 
air from the lungs ; chewing food slowly, perhaps letting some of it fall 
from his mouth only jjartly masticated ; a foul tongue ; a dry and clammy 
mouth ; disposition to jDlunge his head into the water above the nostrils 
when drinking; faeces (or dung) hard and difficult to pass; and urine 
ejected in small quantities. 

As previously observed, the attack very seldom comes on while the 
horse is ridden, but while he is being rapidly driven, or after he has been 
subjected to a long, hot pull under a tight collar, a closely-drawn check 
rein, or a throat-latch buckled almost chokinglv. 

Occasionally the attack will be sudden and without the slightest wam- 
ina: ; he will fall almost as thou«:h shot, or make an effort to run around 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 409 

and then fall ; usually he will first exhibit some signs of uneasiness, as 
shaking the head and twitching the ears, and the eyes, if observed, will 
be found to have a wild, staring and ])loodshot appearance. Sometimes 
he will stop and stare about — look wild and irresolute — and then go on 
as though nothing were the matter. Again, he will rear up or stagger 
like a drunken man, and then fall. He often becomes stubborn, and will 
go only his own way — evidently unconscious — and then come convulsions, 
followed by insensibility. 

When down, it occasionally happens that he 
lies in this insensible state at first, but he usu- 
ally struggles violently, then becomes quiet ; 
gradually recovers himself, and gets up, ready 
to proceed on his way — being j^et dull, how- 
ever, and evidently affected by what has hap- 
pened. 

What to do. — When it is discovered in time 
that he is suffering with disordered dio;estion 
and is constipated, relieve him from Avork, if 
possible, and lessen the quantity ot dry food. opmeguius 

Turn him out at night, at any rate, even 
if found imperatively necessary to have his services during the day. If he 
can have some continued rest, and the run of a good pasture, or else be 
well fed with food suitable to his condition, and well watered, while occu- 
pying a roomy, dry and well-ventilated stable, his chances for restoration 
to health and escaping violent attacks altogether, will be greatly in- 
creased. Of course he should have sufficient exercise, but in moderation. 
If the animal is young, and of full habit, yet fallen into this disordered 
state, restrict his diet, increase his exercise by degrees, or turn him out 
to pasture until his normal condition of stomach and bowels has returned. 

In the beginning of this treatment as to diet — what may be called the 
preventive treatment — give him the following purgative: 

No. 147. 7 Drachms aloes, 

4 Drachms oastiln soap, 
6 Drops oil ot caraway. 

Mix with mucilage or syrup suflicient to form a ball. This amount 
constitutes a dose. It may be repeated after twelve or fifteen hours if 
the first does not produce proper action. 

But if these premonitory symptoms pass unobserved, or if it is a case 
of sudden attack owing to violent exercise, great heat, or development of 
epileptic tendencies, stop him, if driving, upon his showing any of the 
indications described, and go to him ; examine collar, check-rein, throat- 



410 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

latch, and see that all is right; pat and soothe him, and allow him Ui 
stand for a few moments in quiet. Where it is found that tlie collar has 
been pressing the neck veins see that it is altered without more ado — 
either by cutting or by pressing in against the breast on the lower part of 
the collar a cloth of sufficient size to prevent its tightening upon the sides 
of the neck. If he recovers sufficiently to be driven, allow him to move 
at a very moderate puce ; if not, remove him fi-om the vehicle and lead 
him home. When there he must have rest and quiet, and care must be 
taken, as previously directed, to bring him, by food and laxatives, into a 
good state as to stomach and bowels. 

When the attack is so violent that he rears, plunges, and falls, bleed 
as soon as he becomes composed enough to allow it — taking from the 
neck vein from three to six quarts, according to the violence of the fit, 
and the weight, fullness, and fleshiness of the patient. During the first 
paroxysms of his attack dash cold water over his head, if it can be had; 
and a wet sponge made fast between his ears will be found useful. 

From these violent attacks, entire recovery is doubtful, even though 
he may not die outright ; but every chance of even a partial return to 
health and usefulness is increased by rest. A horse once affected in this 
way should really not be driven again, though apparently recovered, for 
the fit is likely to recur, and the driver may himself be thereby seriously 
endangered. 

The necessary steps as to feeding and care, and the administration of 
laxative medicine have already been pointed out. 

IV. Ap'^plexy, or Sleepy Staggers. 

Causes. — The different stages of this disease are sometimes treated as 
though they were two different types ; and we find even professed veter- 
inarians, who ought to be more discriminating, so regarding them. 
Apoplexy is the term by which alone it should be known — the state of 
sleepiness and staggering being but j^remonitory symptoms, or rather the 
earliest stage. 

The immediate cause of this disorder, as in blind staggers, megrims, 
vertigo, giddiness, dizziness, or by what other name the disease previously 
treated may be known, is undue pressure upon the brain, and their re- 
mote causes are generally identical also — the difference in the diseases 
being simply a difference in the modes of their manifestation. 

Post mortem examinations of horses that have died of apoplexy, have 
sufficiently indicated the cause. The vessels of the brain are found to be 
peculirly bloated or distended with black blood. Sometinies there may 
he no inflammation of the membranes of the brain, but the stomach is 
found loaded with undisrested food or the intestines with foul matter. It 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 411 

is clear that congestion of the brain, perliaps of the venous system gen- 
erally, is the condition that prevails when the disease manifests itself in 
its active and violent stage. And this too great fullness of blood is in 
most cases owing to disordered digestion, which may be brought about in 
two ways : the horse may be overfed and subjected to insufficient exer- 
cise, so that the stomach becomes weak, and lacks the power to digest or 
expel the food ; or he may suddenly gorge himself when chancing to 
come upon abundance of food of which he can partake without restraint. 
The fulness of the stomach and bowels produces that internal compres- 
sion which precludes the regular flow of blood through the veins, and 
weakens the venous system, and the brain soon becomes overcharged, 
and that, too, with a fluid in a degree poisonous for want of perfect oxy- 
genation, or purification by being regularly passed through the lungs and 
exposed to the air. Hot weather is peculiarly favorable to the attack, 
buth because of the more debilitated state of the s^^stem from heat, and 
because the heat predisposes a more rapid nrterial flow of blood, that is 
not counterbalanced by an equally rapid return of the blood throuoh the 
veins to the heart and lungs. 

Luxuriant pasture, warm weather, and the dependent posture of the 
animal's head in his continual cropping, especially if he is in over-condi- 
tion and full of blood, may readily produce apoplexy — the immediate and 
the remote cause in this case seeming to act simultaneously. Horses in 
IDoor condition may be attacked after having been overworked and re- 
duced to a debilitated state through want of care and of nourishino- food 
Put upon rich pasture, with a ravenous appetite, they are apt to gorge 
and bring on indigestion and its attendant constipation. 

There is sometimes a softening of the brain, rather than effusion or 
too great fullness, and this may arise from tumors, caused by blows, or 
by the plugging of the vessels with clots of fibrous matter. 

How to know it. — This differs from blind staggers or megrims in this, 
at least, that the prevailing symptoms force themselves upon the atten- 
tion of the ordinary observer while the horse is at rest. He exhibits at 
first a want of appetite, and is more than usually dull. When he walks 
his movements are slow and unsteady. Examination will discover his 
l)ulse to be slow, heavy and dull, yet full. When he is exercised a little 
these symptoms go off, but they soon return when he is left to himself, 
and more unmistakably. In the open air he balances himself as though 
about to fall, and stands with his head depressed. In the stall he bears 
upon the trough or the wall, and a good deal of his weight seems to be 
supported in this way. Sometimes he gets his head against some rest, 
stands for a length of time, and then drops as though shot,. but presently 
gets upon his feet again, to relapse into the same sleepy listlessness. 



412 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

When in this condition it is dangerous to be near him, or to attempt to 
move him. When aroused from this apparent sleep he looks vacantly 
around, glares unmeaningly, and sometimes the eyes will not close when 
an object is moved before them — and the mdications are that he neither 
sees nor hears. If food is within reach he will sometimes take a mouth- 
ful, but lose consciousness while it is yet but half chewed ; and if he 
attempts to drink, the power of swallowing seems to be partially lost, 
and the water will return through his nostrils. As he grows worse he will 
twist his legs over each other when trying to go straight forward. In the 
last stage he begins to foam at the mouth ; his breathing becomes loud and 
laborious ; the pulse is depressed ; the jugular veins are distended almost 
to bursting : the muzzle is cold, and sometimes he discharges faeces almost 
involuntarily; he grinds his teeth; twitchings steal over his face and 
limbs ; and at last he falls into convulsions and beats himself about in a 
terrible manner. There is no disposition to do mischief — he is evidently 
well nigh unconscious. All the powers of life are wrought upon, and 
death speedily results unless some powerful means can be brought to 
bear to bring instant partial relief. 

It is well to caution the reader against mistaking for an apoplectic sign 
a certain sleepy, listless, stupid expression of countenance that is brought 
on by repeated attacks of megrims. A little examination will generally 
disclose that all the other symptoms of apojDlexy are wanting. 

What to do. — That treatment which will most speedily relieve the 
overloaded vessels of the brain is clearly best. If anything is done 
before the violent stage of the disease comes on, bleed freely from the 
neck vein — so freely, indeed, that the horse falters or begins to blow. 
If the case has been neglected until the violent stage is upon him, bleed, 
if possible, until he falls. It may sometimes happen that a lull in the 
paroxysms ensues, and even at this late hour it is well to make the 
attempt to save by drawing blood. 

Next, determine, if possible, whether the cause 'is a present-existing 
gorged stomach, and constipated, torpid bowels. If so, use the stomach 
pump promptly. Force warm water into his stomach till the food is so 
thinned that it may escape by the pylorus and by the mouth and nostrils. 
When this extreme fullness of the stomach is overcome, give a purgative 
bolus as follows : 

No. 148. 7 Drachms aloes. 

4 Draclmis castile soap, 
6 Drops oil of caraway. 

Mix with mucilage or syrup to form a ball, which give as a dose. 

If the constijDation is obstinate, and does not yield to this purgative. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 413 

stir a handfull of fine salt in one gallon of warm water, and inject it into 
liis bowels. This failing he must be back-raked. 

When the system is once relieved the digestive functions may be stim- 
ulated by giving, every four hours, for two days, a wine-glass-full of 

No. 149. 4 Ounces fluid extract of Llack pepper, 

6 Ounces lluid extract of ginger, 
2 Ounces liyposulphate of soda, 
4 Ounces water. 

Dissolve the soda in the water ; then add the ginger and pepper. 

Attention must now be paid to diet, at first reducing it to a small 
quantity, and to such in quality as will have a laxative tendency. He 
may ))e turned upon a pasture, if it is not too rich, ])ut he should have 
food administered morning and evening in moderation. He should have 
free access to water. 

In the beginning of the paroxysm it is sometimes found advantageous 
in quieting him somewhat to apply ice to his head, or to pour a stream of 
ice cold water steadily between his ears. 

Until he is so far recovered as to render it safe for him to so to 
pasture, keep him comfortable. If the weather is hot — and it usually 
comes on during hot weather — keep him in a cool, well-aired place, or 
in an open place well shaded. 

Complete recovery is seldom to be hoped for. Generally, the horse 
once severely affected, is useless for Summer work, though well able to 
go through that of Winter, if properl}^ cared for. 

As in the blind staggers, the unnatural distension of the blood vessels 
renders a recurrence of an attack very probable ; and it may be brought 
about by external compression, so that tight collars, tight throat latches, 
and short-draw check-reins, should be avoided. A breast-strap should be 
substituted for a collar, and overAvcn'k should be specially guarded 
against. 

Apoplexy is not contagious, though it has been so regarded. If more 
than one horse on the same farm or in the same stable is affected with it, 
be assured that the same causes are present for both, and that when they 
are removed the danger of new cases ceases. 

V. Abscess Within the Brain. 

This not unusual and terrible affection is produced almost invariably 
by external injury. From being struck or striking against some hard 
su1)stance, as in running away, striking the head in the stable, or other 
similar cause. It is possible the owner may know nothing about it. A 



4U 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



wound, perhaps a trivial looking one, is found on the head, from which 
perhaps only a little watery fluid issues. Soon the horse becomes dull, 
and from day to day gets worse, refuses his food, and at last falls and 
commences knocking his head against the floor or on the ground ; thus 
he continues until at length death comes to his relief. 




A HOKSE DYING FUOM ABSCESS WITHIN THE BRAIN. 

What to do. — There is nothing to be done once an abscess forms within 
the brain. The only means of cure is to allow the matter to escape. The 
thick muscles coverins: the cranium of the horse would prevent the use of 




A nORSE, MAD FROM INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN. 

the trephine, and if, indeed, a hole was made through the skull to the 
brain, and perchance the abscess cured, who would want the horse? 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 415 

There is but one sensible way : kill the suffering animal and end its mis- 
ery at once. 

Another terrible affliction of the brain, fortunately not common, is in- 
flammation of the brain, or phrenitis. It is indeed madness, with the 
exhibition of terrible strength, which no human power can cope with to 
successfully relieve, in its frenzied state. 

If discerned in its earliest stage, before violent frenzy attacks it, resort 
may be had to bleeding. Open both neck veins and allow the blood to 
flow until the dull, heav}^ listless expression brightens or the animal 
sinks. Bleed again if necessary. Give 8 drachms of aloes, and repeat 
at the end of three hours, if the bowels are not thoroughly relieved, or 
the pulse changes for the better. Afterwards give 20 to 30 drops of 
tincture of aconite, or half a drachm of the powdered root infused in a 
pint of hot water, or a drachm of digitalis, infused in the same way, to 
be given cold every half hour until relief is obtained. In ninety-nine 
cases out of a hundred, however, relief will come in death. 



CHAPTER XI. 



DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 



I. fiLOOD SPAVIN. II. BOG SPAVIX. III. CURB. IV. THOROUGH PIN. V. TETAIJCS, 

OR LOCKJAW. VI. CRAMPS. VII. RHEUMATISM. VIII. STRING HALT. 



I. Blood Spavin. 



This may be defined as a distension, or enlargement (dilatation) of the 
veins of the hock joint, and overlying the seat of bone and bog spavin ; 
a local venous congestion, caused generally by swelling, impeding the 
flow of the blood, and often connected with bog or bone spavin. It is 
harmless ; in fact it may be considered as accompanying, or the result of 
other disease of the joint. 

What to do. — In the early stage cold water perseveringly applied, fol- 
lowed by cooling lotions, equal parts of alcohol and rain water, or one 
pint of brandy to one-half pint of water, applied as a lotion. If this 
does not relieve the difficulty, use a strong infusion of bayberry bark, 
nsing considerable friction by hand rubbing with either of the remedies 
named. 

II. Bog Spavin. 

Common bog spavin is technically (as is windgall) an enlargement of 
the Bursa Mucosa, just as a distension of the sub-cutaneous (beneath the 
skin) veins in the region of the hock is called blood spavin. These cause 
an undue secretion of joint oil and a dropsical effusion into the joint, 
l)roducing swelling having all the character of inflammation of the true 
hock joint. This inflammation of the upper or principal hock joint is 
true bog spavin. 

416 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 417 

Causes. — Overwork, sprains, injuries either from punctured wounds, 
fractures or bruises : also from the effects of rheumatism. All produce 
inflammation of the structures of the joint. 

How to know it. — In its acute early form there is a tense, puffy, fluctu- 
ating swelling of the front and inside portion of the hock at the upper 
or principal point just where usually there is a depression. There is also 
a swelling behind, where thorough-pin occurs, but it can be pressed 
forward, the anterior (front) swelling filling up ; but there is no swelling 
below and behind the hock as in thorough-pin. 

What to do. — Absolute rest and the use of a high-heeled shoe. Con- 
tinued pressure on the swollen parts, by means of a truss or compress, 
with cold water applications, or brandy and salt. 

In case there is much inflammation reduce it by means of fomentations 
of water, and if there is pain let the fomentations be an infusion of hops. 
In the later stas-es use tincture of arnica diluted with water. If the case 
is a bad one, when the extreme heat and tenderness has subsided a blister 
may be applied, since it sometimes goes on to ulceration of the joint, and 
even to bony deposit destroying all movement of the joint. See No. 160 
and 161 for blisters. 

III. Curb. 

This is a swelling in the middle of and just behind the lowest part of 
the hock joint. At first it is soft and doughey, or retaining for a time the 
shape of the pressure, producing an enlargement about two inches below 
the hock. Curby hocks are also sometimes congenital and hereditaiy\ 

Causes. — A blow, but more frequently a sprain of the tendon, or of 
the sheath through which the flexor tendon passes. The ligament of the 
hock when injured increases the gravity of the disease. 

How to know it. — There is heat, inflammation, tenderness, lameness, 
and a tendency to knuckle forward at the fetlock. 

What to do. — Absolute rest, a high-heeled shoe, and cold water bandages 
will generally remove the difficulty if applied in the early stages of the 
disease. If, from neglect, the lameness becomes decided, apply the 
following : 

No. 150. 1 Ounce powdered bloodroot, 

1 Ounce turpentine, 
4 Ounces acetic acid. 

Apply niglit and morning for a week or ten days and afterward bathe 
daily with vinegar 



418 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

If coagulable lymph forms, threatening callosity, (a hard swelhng; 
daily and long-continued friction — hand rubbing downward — and the 
application of a more decided stimulant will be indicated. If so, prepare 
the following ; 

No. 151. 1 Ounce oil of cedar, 

1 Ounce oil of majoram, 
1 Ounce oil of sassafras, 
1 Pint soft soap. 

Use this daily, rubbing always downwards. 

IV. Thorougli Pin. 

Causes. — This is a sprain of the flexor tendon behind the hock, and 
which has a large sheath which extends both above and below the joint — 
a dropsical enlargement of the sheath of the tendon, so the fluid con- 
tained may be pressed from one side to the other. Hence its name. 

How to know it. — Pressure on one side will cause bulging on the other, 
and pressure on both sides will cause fluctuation along the tendon below 
and behind the hock. 

What to do. — Use the same treatment as for curb ; cold water band- 
ages, or hot fomentations in the early stages of the disease ; also absolute 
rest and a high-heeled shoe. When tenderness ceases and lameness is 
gone, apply a spring truss, so the pads will clasp and cover the puff on 
both sides, and exert a pretty firm and steady pressure. Success in re- 
moving the puff has occasionally been had by puncturing the lower part 
of the swelling, into the sack, and injecting a solution of the following 
strength ; 

No. 152. 10 Grains sulphate of zinc, 

■^ 1 Ounce rainwater. 

Inject one or two tea-spoonfuls, as the case may require. Then bring 
the walls of the sack closely together and hold them so for a week by 
means of a firm flannel bandage. 

Another plan is to apply with gentle rubbing, the following ointment 
every day until the skin is inflamed ; 

No. 153. 1 Part biniodide of mercury, 

7 Parts neats foot oil. 

Rub together, either in a mortar or with a spatula on glass, until inti- 
mately incorporated, and use as directed, observing regularity and shunning 
■^ volent handling. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 419 

V. Tetanus, or Lockjaw. 

This terrible affliction, which consists of persistent and often acutely 
painful drawing together (cramps) of the voluntary muscles, causing ex- 
treme rigidity, drawing together the whole muscular system, and closing 
or locking the jaws. 

Causes. — Often a wound in the leg or foot, seemingly of the most 
trivial character, as the prick of a nail. It is also produced by castra- 
tion nicking and docking ; by hard riding or driving, and leavino- the 
animal shivering in the night air. When it proceeds from a w«ound, it is 
called trumatic : when from no apparent cause, it is called idiopathic. It 
rarely occurs from wounds until they are well advanced toward beino- 
healed ; though it may display its symptoms immediately upon or a 
mouth after the hurt, but generally from the sixth to the fourteenth day. 

How to know it. — In the earliest stages there will be stiffness and rig- 
idity of the muscles near the injury, and the limb will be moved with 
difficulty. There will be excitement, the ears will be pointed forward, 
the head elevated, the legs stiff and stretched out ; the horse will seem 
excited and yet obstinate to move ; the tail will quiver and the skin and 
flesh will feel hard like a board. The lower jaw being taken in the 
hand and the head raised, if the haw projects over the eye, you have a 
case of lockjaw. See cut. 




THE TEST FOK TETANUS. 



What to do. — Give the animal a loose or box stall, and in the most 
quiet place possible, and where it will see no one except the attendant. 
Place slings beneath him so he can stand clear of them or rest in them at 
Avill. Remove all straw, litter or other sources of excitement, and avoid 
all noise or unusual movement. Keep the stable darkened and without 
other animals present. If the disease is produced by a wound examine 
it, and if contracted or containing pus (matter) widen it, and cover with 
27 



420 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR, 



a bread and milk poultice containing laudanum or extract of belladonna. 
Give a powerful purgative, as the following: 



Mo. 154. 



6 to 8 Drops croton oil, 

4 to 6 Drachms i)o\vdered aloes. 



Dissolve in a pint and a half of water and give as a drench. If it 
cannot be given by the mouth administer it through the nostrils by means 
of a stomach pump and the horse catheter, to be hereafter shown, in 
feeding ; or prepare the following, if the horse can swallow a ball : 

No. 155. i Drachms powdered aloes, 

4 Drachms extract of gentian, 
1 Scruple croton farina. 
Mix with linseed meal and molasses into a ball. 

Follow this up with three doses daily of anti-spasmodics, as, one to 
two drachms belladonna, or one-half ounce chloral hydrate, or one-half 
to one ounce dose of tincture of lobelia in a pint of water. Give by the 
mouth if the animal can swallow ; if not, as an injection. Keep the 
bowels open with one drachm podophyllin and two drachms extract of 
belladonna, smeared on the back of the tongue. 




SLINGS FOR TETANUS, Oil FOR FRACTURED LIMB. 



If the animal can bear it, a thorough sweat Avith a blanket wrung out 
of hot water, and covered with dry blankets Avill do good. Feed with 
flourishing gruels if the animal can swallow; if not; feed as next described. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 421 

Attach a horse catheter to a stomach pump, pass the end carefully up 
the nostril and into the gullet as shown. If coughing is produced, with- 
draw the catheter and commence anew. If two feet are inserted without 




MODK OF FEBDIXG HORSE HAVING CHRONIC TKTAXUS . 

alarming symptoms, pump in only a quart of linseed gruel, if the horse 
has fasted for some time, find as the stomach can bear it, give more. 
This, however, must not be attempted while the disease is in its acute 
fcrm (its earlier stage), but after the disease assumes a chronic form it 
iuay be resorted to. 




SHOWING HOW FAR AX ANIMAL WITH TETANUS IS ' CAPAPLE OF WOTION. 

The disease is apt to leave the animal in a most deplorable condition, 
and it will be a long time before it becomes serviceable, if indeed it ever 



422 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

does' Six weeks or even two months may be required before the animal 
regains the use of its powers. The cut annexed will illustrate the condi- 
tion of a horse with tetanus. 

It will thus be seen that in a decided case it will be policy as well ai 
humanity to seriously consider whether it may not be better to relieve 
the sufferings of the poor animal at once by shooting through the brain. 

VI. Cramps. 

Some horses are quite subject to cramps of the muscles and tendons. 
It may be an irritability or spasm of a particular muscle or set of mus- 
cles, which refuse to act, becoming stiff and inflexible. They cramp and 
sometimes twitch excessively. This is again succeeded by another stage 
in which the muscles relax and are restored to their normal condition. 

Causes. — Strains, bruises, or over-taxation of the powers. In many 
cases it is undoubtedly allied to rheumatism, a disorder attacking horses 
much oftener than is supposed ; rheumatism very often being attributed 
to bots, founder and various other causes by the ignorant. Both diseases 
are quite painful, and leave the animal very 'sore, and rheumatism often 
for months. 

What to do. — Clothe the body warmly, find the seat of the difficulty 
by feeling of the parts until the sore place is touched. Wash the parts 
with salt and water, and rub dry. Then apply the following liniment : 

No. 156. 1 Part solution of ammonia, 

1 Part spirits of camphor, 
1 Part olive oil. 

Rub it in well, and hold a hot iron or brick to the parts to heat it 
thoroughly. 

VII. Rheumatism. 

This is a peculiar form of inflammation attacking the fibrous structures 
of the body, such as the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles, and is 
accompanied by stiffness, exceeding tenderness and pain, shifting from 
place to place, often implicating the valves or other structures of the 
heart, and when so usually results in death. 

Causes. — ^Exposure to cold, wet or drafts, especially when the system 
is overworked. There is usually a constitutional predisposition in the 
subjects, and in such it is easily brought on by diseases of the respiratory 
or digestive organs, especially in horses of a full, gross habit. 

How to know it. — In its acute form there is dullness, followed by ex- 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 423 

treme lameness in one or more of the limbs. There is tenderness and 
then swelling of the joint, tendon or muscles, at first soft, then hard. 
There may be fluctuations from excess of synoviti (joint fluid). With the 
inflammation there is fever. The pulse is full and hard ; the mouth is 
dry and clammy ; there is hurried breathing, scanty urine and costiveness. 
In tbe chronic form the symptoms are the same as in the acute, but 
not so pronounced, and in this form it is unattended Avith fever. It may 
appear only upon undue exposure, or in damp, lowery weather, and dis- 
appear again upon the recurrence of fine weather. Chronic rheumatism 
is also less inclined to shift from jjlace to place. 

What to do. — For rheumatism in its early acute stage relieve the bowels 
by laxative medicines, say four ounces of aloes. Put the animal in 
slings, as for tetanus, and clothe him from the hoofs to the ears in flan- 
nel. If practicable the first thing is to fill the box in which the horse is 
kept with steam, keeping it up for an hour. If the pain is extreme 
lessen it with ounce doses of laudanum. 

Give the following three or four times a day as a drench in a pint 
of gruel : 

No. 157. X Ounce bicarbonate of soda, 

1 Ounce Salicylic acid. 

If this cannot be obtained, give the following, at a dose, night and 
naorning : 

No. 158. % Ounce powdered saltpeter, 

1 Drachm powdered colchicum, 
1 Ounce oil of turpentine, 
Mix in half a pint of linseed oil. 

For rheumatism in its chronic form the following will be found to be 
valuable, used internally : 

No. 159. 1 Ounce powdered carbonate of potash, 

1 Ounce powdered saltpeter, 

2 Drachms iodide of potash. 

Give in one and a half pints of water. 

As a liniment for the joints and other affected parts, to be afterwards 
wrapped in flannel, the following is excellent: 

No. 160. 1 Pound compound soap liniment, 

2 Ounces liquor ammonia, 
2 Ounces tincture cantharides, 
2 Ounces laudanum. 

Rub in with as much friction as the horse can bear, and apply until 



424 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



signs of blistering are apparent. If this does not produce the desired e* 
feet, use the following ; 



No. 161. 



Ji Ounce laudanum, 
Vi Ounce camphorated oil, 
1 Ounce tincture cantharides. 



Apply to the joints with a soft brush, but without friction. 
A soothing and stimulating embrocation, when so severe measures aa 
tlie foregoing are not considered necessary, may Ije made as follows : 



No. 162. 



1 Part spirits of camphor, 
1 Part solution of ammonia. 
1 Part olive oil. 



Mix, and apply by rubbing it in. 

VIII. String Halt. 

String-halt is the sudden jerking up of a hind limb, sometimes both in 
succession. Sometimes several efforts will be made before the animal 
can progress at all. In other cases the spasmodic action of the hind log 
is shown in starting off, and the animal becoming warm, it will nearly or 
(luite cease. An exceptionally bad case is shown in the illustration 
oiven below. 




A HORSE HAVING STRING HALT. 



Sometimes the action is so slight as to be almost unnoticed, and again 
it may be so strong that the hind l?g will strike the belly. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 425 

Causes. — The causes are unknown. It is supposed to be produced by 
a variety of injuries, but principally as a reflex nervous action. It in- 
creases with age and hard labor, and nervous excitement, and is a positive 
unsoundness. 

What to do. — There is no cure. Rest, keeping the bowels open with 2 
drachm doses of belladona daily, will lessen the spasms for a time ; but 
fatigue or nervous excitement is sure to bring on a recurrence of the 
attack. A careful driver will often prevent the disability being much 
Jihown by being careful not to excite or overwork the horse. 



CHAPTER Xn. 



DISEASES OP THE EYE. 



1. flIATURALLY WEAK EYES. II. SORB EYE-LIDS. III. MOON EYES. IV. CATARACT, 

V. INFLAMMATIOX OF THE HAW, OR HOOKS, VI. DIMNESS OP VISION. VII. 

WORMS IN THE EYE. VIII. PURULENT OPHTHALMY. IX. FUNGOID TUMORS IN THE 

SUBSTANCE OP THE EYE. X. IMPEDIMENT IN THE LACHRYMAL DUCT. XI. GUTTA 

SERENA. 



I. Naturally Weak Eyes. 

Very many persons, otherwise well informed, when from any cause the 
eyes of horses become weak, inflamed, watery, or drop tears, suppose the 
cause to be from a natural weakness of the sight. So "blind teeth" are 
supposed to cause serious trouble, and even blindness in horses. Nothing 
could be further from the truth. It is exceedingly rare that horses have 
naturally weak eyes ; it can almost always be traced to some local cause. 
Thus, watering of the eyes is caused by a stoppage of the lachrymal 
ducts leading from the eyes into the nostrils, the natural channels for 
carrying off the superabundant moisture of the eye. Inflammation of 
the eyes is not uncommon from a turning in of the eye-lashes. The 
remedy is to snip them of£ with the scissors. 

"Blind teeth," or "wolf teeth," as the immature supernumerary 
tushes are called, do no injury whatever. If it is feared they may, it is 
easy to take them out with a pair of forceps, or to knock them out with 
a punch and hammer. 

Occasionally a supernumerary tooth may be found growing in the 
upper jaw, between the first and second teeth, and lapping over both of 
them. This is considered by many persons as producing inflammation of 
the eyes. It is true that if pain results, the eyes may be affected by 
sympathy. This tooth should always be removed, and may be done with 
a strong pair of forceps. It may cause distress from pain in the jaw ; 
nothing more. 

426 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 427 

Colts Jire often subject to inflammation of the eyes in a slight degree, 
during teething. Examine the teeth, lance the gums, and the eyes will 
recover. It is a case of sympathy. 

II. Sore Eye-lids. 

In the outset of more serious disease, soreness of the lids of the eyes 
is common. It is also produced by irritation of various kinds. In in- 
flammation of the eyes, soreness of the lids is always present. If from 
other disease, it is sympathetic, and will pass away with the disease itself. 

There is one form, however, that is characterized hy a redness, swell- 
ing and itching, the edges becoming raw and exuding matter. This must 
have specific treatment. 

What to do. — The horse should have a laxative dose if the bowels are 
'lot in a natural state. The following will be indicated : 

No. 163. 1 Drachm flowers of sulphur, 

2 Drachms ]>o\vdere(.l mandrake, 

3 Drachms powdered aloes. 

Form into a ball with honey, and give as a dose. 

To reduce the inflammation, make a curd, by beating three eo-gs thor- 
oughly and then stirring tlmux with a quart of filtered rainwater mitil 
mixed ; let it come to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add half an ounce of 
sulphate of zinc, and continue the boiling for a few minutes. Bind the 
curd over the eyes, by placing a portion between layers of tliin muslin. 
The clear water strained through several thicknesses of fine linen is excel- 
lent for sore or inflamed eyes of any kind. Wet the lids three or four 
times a day. 

In aggravated cases that will not yield to treatment, and that remain 
raw and exude matter, the edges should be carefully touched with mer- 
curial ointment, the utmost care being taken that it does not come in con- 
tact Avith the eye. 

During the whole treatment the horse must be tied up by two lines to 
the rear posts of the stall, so he cannot rub the eyes, and must be fed 
from a nose-bag. 

m. Moon Eyes. 

This is ophthalmy, recurring at periodic times, or at intervals of three 
weeks, a month or more, and not, as is often supposed, at the full moon. 

Causes. — Hereditarj^ predisposition ; from malarial causes ; herding in 
low, damp situations ; rheumatic affections ; irritation consequent on 



428 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

teething, and, in fact, where predisposition occurs, from any cause tend- 
in<T to lower the general state of the health. 

o o 

How t3 know it. — There will be a sunken look to the eye ; the haw of 
the eye will protrude ; the white of the eye may be of a pinkish cast ; 
the eye will be watery ; the pupil of the eye will be cloudy, at the edges, 
and dull and discolored at the center; there will be haziness, milkiness, 
or a whitish sjDot may appear, which will continue to overcast the eye. 
In the intervals between the attacks the transparent coat of the eye will 
have a hazy, bluish cast about its border, and the iris will lack its natural 
brightness ; the upper lid or eyebrow will be wrinkled or furrowed. 

What to do. — Look first of all for carious or defective teeth, and if 
found extract them. There is a strong sympathy between any difficulty 
with the teeth and the eyes, though unsound or "wolf teeth" do not, as 
was once supposed, cause blindness. 

Place the animal in a darkened stable ; give four drachms aloes, and 
apply the following lotion twice a day ; 

No. 164. 20 Grains .acetate of lead, 

20 Drops belladonna, 
1 Quart liltered rain water. 

Alternate this twice a day with the following : 

No. 165. 20 Grains sulphate of zinc, 

20 Drops tincture of Malabar bean, 
1 Quart filtered rain water. 

The phj^sic having acted, give two or three times a day the following ; 

No. 166. 1 Drachm sulphate of iron, 

K Ounce powdered Peruvian bark. 

Mix in one quart of warm water, or give in the feed if the horse will 
eat it. When another attack is expected double this dose. 

Sometimes an ounce daily, for several weeks, of Fowler's solution of 
arsenic will be serviceable, intermitting a few days occasionally. If, how- 
ever, the attacks recur, and at lessened periods, the trouble may be 
expected to end in cataract and blindness. 

IV. Cataract. 

As a rule, cataract is the result of inflammation of the deep structures 
of the eyeball (internal ophthalmy or the periodic form). It also occurs 
occasionally from diabetes and other constitutional disabilities. 

How to know It. — Put the horse in a dark place. Take a lighted can- 
dle. Three images will be reflected, one from the surface of the eye. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 429 

one from the front surface of the lens, and one from (he i-oar surface of 
the lens. If in moving the light either of the posterior images are 
changed into a white haze, there is exudation into tliat part of the lens ; 
in otlier words, a cataract is forming. 

What to do — Unless the cataract is only just forming the horse will 
l)e eventually blind. Give aloes as recommended for moon-blindness, 
and also the prescription for lotions in that case. Follow this up with 
digitalis in doses of fifteen to twenty grains daily, alternated daily with 
six to eight drachms of niter in the water taken. Keep the animal in u 
dark room ; apply blisters to the cheeks and behind the ears, using the 
following, well rubbed in : 

No. 167. 2 Drachms powdered cantharides, 

}i Ounce lard. 

Mix thoroughly and rub well in, treating the blisters when formed with 
linen cloths covered with mutton tallow to keep them running. 
Apply also to the eye daily for several months the following: 

No. 168. 2 Grains pliosphorus, 

1 Ounce almond oil. 

Mix and keep in a dark, cool place, in a bottle with a ground glass 
stopper. 

V. Inflammation of the Haw, or Hooks. 

The haw is a triangular shaped cartilage situated just within the inrie^ 
corner of the eye. In health but little of it can be seen. Its use is to 
pass over the ball of the eye to remove dust or other offensive substances 
from the eye. This is done so quickly that it is difficult to distinguish 
the action. Its play may be seen by opening the lid of the eye, or by 
attempting to touch the eyeball with the fingers. 

Causes. — This is often produced by inflammation or swelling of other 
parts of the eye. It may end in producing a hard, bony state, protrud- 
ing from its place as a whitish lump. When it presents this appearance 
some persons are fond of cutting out the "hooks" to keep the horse 
from "oroins: blind." Our advice is, ^^ Don't do it." 

What to do. — If there is inflammation and swelling, treat the eye as 
for o]:)hthalmy (inflammation). In all cases of inflammation of the eyes 
use the bandage as shown in the cut on next page. 

If the inflammation is slight, but active, keep a linen cloth over the 
eye, or eyes, saturated with the following : 




430 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 169. 4 Ounces sassafras pith, 

1 Quart raiu water. 

Let it stand three or four hours, and apply cold, straining it as used. 
If the inflammation is more pronounced, use the following as a lotion ; 

No. 170. 4 Drachms laudanum, 

2 Drachms extract belladonna, 
1 Quart rain water. 

Also raise the eyelids and swab the inflam- 
ed haws occasionally with the egg and sul- 
phate of zinc lotion recommended for sore 
eves. If the lachrymal duct is closed, that 
is, if water runs from the eyes, swab out 
the ducts well up the inside of the nostrils 
with weak tobacco water, finishing with 
clean water, or use the sulphate of zinc in 
the form of a lotion. 
MODE OF BLINDING A HORSE, AND jf tlic blood vcsscls arc ovcrloadcd, leech- 

APPLYING LOTION TO THE EYE. 

ing the lids of the eyes will be beneficial, 
and in extreme cases half a gallon to one gallon of blood may be ta- 
ken from the neck vein, to be repeated at the expiration of ten days, if 
necessary. 

The inflammation having subsided, the haws will resume their natural 
place and appearance, and again become almost invisible. 

VI. Dimness of Vision. 

Very many horses have defective vision. Some do not see well at 
nio-ht ; some are near-sighted ; some are far-sighted, as in man, from too 
great convexity of the eye, or the reverse. Old horses gradually acquire 
dimness of vision. 

There is no specific for defective eyesight. Spectacles would relieve 
the difficulty, but, spectacles that might be worn by a horse have not yet 
been invented, and for the reason that they are not practical. He must get on 
as best he may. 

VII. Worms in the Eye. 

This is occasioned by a worm {Filaria Oculi), and may be extracted 
by a skillful puncture. It should only be undertaken by a competent 
veterinary or other surgeon, the horse being first securely hampered so 
he cannot struggle. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 431 

VIII. Purulent Ophthalmy. 

Purulent Ophthalmy is confined to the conjunctiva (mucus membrane 
of the eve), and it is in this membrane that the redness and ordinary 
swelling of the eyes have their seat. The eyelids are much swollen, and 
the membrane rises up, puffy and red above the level of the cornea (the 
transparent disc), sometimes in fungoid excrescences. This species of 
inflammation is epidemic, and when occurring often, goes through the 
stable. 

What to do. — Place the animal in a moderately dark stable, keep the 
eyes wet constantly — by means of the cloth shown in the cut with inflam- 
luation of the hooks — with the following : 

No. 171. 2 Drachms sulphate of zinc, 

20 Grains morphia, 
1 riut ruin\Yater. 

Use the water tepid if possible, but if used cold at first, it must be so 
continued, and vice versa. 

The bowels should be kept moderately open with physic if necessary, 
or wdth soft feed, and the same-general treatment used as for the other 
forms of ophthalmy. 

If the disease does not yield to this treatment, and becomes chronic, 
prepare a wash as follows : 

No. 172. 6 Grains nitrate of silver, 

1 Ounce distilled water, or rainwater filtered through sharp 
washed sand. 

Mix, and drop a little into the eye, daily, from a quill. 

IX. Fungoid Tumors in the .Substance of the Eye. 

This is a rare affection, and fortunately so. The causes which prc?^ 
duce it are obscure, but probably the same as in any other cancerous 
affection. The end will probably be death, for the taint of the cancerous 
affection is probably in the system. Upon close examination, the eye 
ball may be clear, but a brilliant yellow substance may be seen at the 
base of the interior. 

If it be not deemed best to destroy the animal, the eye must be extir- 
pated. Two knives are required, of a peculiar shape, one of small size 
and slightly bent to one side ; the other larger and curved to one side 
until it nearly reaches the shape of a semi-circle. A sharp scalpel (the 
knife ordinarily used in surgical operations) will also be required. Two 
straight, triangular pointed needles threaded with strong waxed twine, a 



432 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

curved needle, similarly threaded, water, a sponge, lint, injecting tube 
and a bellows. 

Cast the horse, and fasten him so he cannot move. Pierce each eyelid 
with one of the straight needles and tie a secure loop for raising and 
holding; the lids as shown in the cut. 




EXTIRPATION OF THE EYE. 



Let an assistant then hold the lids wide open. The surgeon with the 
straight knife quickl}'^ describes a circle around the globe of the eye, 
severing completely the conjunctiva mucous membrane of the eye. He 
then takes the small, curved blade, and passing it through the divided 
conjunctiva it is carried around the eyeball close to the bone, severing the 
levator and depressor muscles. The cornea is then pierced with the 
curved needle, in and out, the thread drawn and a loop fixed. Then the 
eye being drawn out as far as possible the curved knife is passed around 
the rear of the eye with a sawing motion, the integuments are severed, 
and the eye is drawn forth. 

It is quickly done when all things arc ready, but should not be at- 
tempted except by a competent surgeon. Some bleeding will follow. 
Inject cold water ; if this do not check the hemorrhage, force cold air 
into the cavity with the bellows. If this do not avail, plug the cavity 
softly with lint, bandage the wound to secure the dressing, and leave the 
result to the natural process of heahng. 

X. Impediment in the Lachrymal Gland. 

The lachrymal ducts of the eyes are small canals leading from the eyes 
into the nose. Their use is to convey away the superfluous moisture 
(tears of the eyes). When it is closed by inflammation or other tempo- 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 433 

rary cause, the water of the eyes flow over the face as shown in the 
subjoined cut. 

Occasionally, however, the duct becomes per- 
manently closed. The usual remedy is to swab 
the nostrils where the duct enters with Aveak to- 
bacco water and afterwards with clear water. 

If this do not effect a cure after two or three 
trials, the duct must be opened with a probe. 

The duct commences by minute openings near 
the terminations of the upper and lower lids at the 

ij , 1 T, , ,1 OBSTRUCTION OF LACURYMAL 

mner corner of the eye. It comes out upon the gland. 

dark skin which lines the commencement of the 
nostrils, lying on the inner membrane. 

A delicately thin elastic probe must be used, and about twelve inches 
long, the horse being cast and securely fastened. It may be necessarj^ 
to introduce the probe both from the corner of the eye and from the 
nostril. Next charge a fine pointed syringe with tepid water and placing 
the point into the nasal termmation of the duct, force the water throuirh. 
The operation should only be performed by a surgeon. 

XI. Gutta Serena. 

This is sometimes called glass eye, incorrectly, however, as the term is 
understood in the West and South. In glass eye, as understood there, 
the pupil is sound and perfect, the iris distinct and natural, but has a 
white ring around the cornea. It may injure the sale of a horse, but 
simply from the singular expression it gives the eye of the animal. 

True gutta serena, or Amaurosis, is palsy of the nerve of sight, or of 
the nervous expansion called the retina, and due to functional and organic 
disease of the optic nerve. In the early stages of the disease it may 
sometimes be relieved, but is likely to occur again. In the later stages 
it is incurable. 

Causes. — Congestion, tumors, dropsy or other diseases of the brain. 
Also by injury to the nerve of sight, by pressure or other cause, from 
inflammation, excess of light, and may be symptomatic, from indigestion 
or during gestation. 

How to know it. — In the early stages the insensibility of sight may be 
only partial ; the pupil will be unnaturally large ; upon closing the lids 
of the e3^es, and opening them in a strong light, there will be little or no 
variation in the pupil ; the e3'es will be unnaturally clear from extreme 
dilatation ; the animal will be partially or totally blind, as shown by high 
stepping and failure to flinch when the fingers are suddenly pointed close 




434 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

to the eye ; the ears will be in constant motion as a compensation for the 

want of sight. 

What to do. — If from overloading the stomach, indigestion, gestation, 

etc., turn the animal upon grass, if in the season; or clothe warmly and 

feed upon easily digested food, as mashes and 
roots. If the attack is recent and from such 
cause as inflammation of the brain, bleed to 
the extent of a gallon, and put a seton close to 
the eye. In fact the cause must be found 
and removed, if it be due to one that can be 
removed. Success is sometimes had by blis- 
tering as for ophthalmy. Use in connection 
with this nerve stimulants. Of these strych- 
nia, in one to two grain doses, according to 
EYE AFFiicrKD BY SEUENA. circumstauces, or five grain doses of nitrate of 

silver may be given. 

Sympathetic amaurosis may admit of cure. As we have said, the 
deranged function must be restored. 

If medicine is required to deplete the system the following will be 
good : 

No. 173. 2 Drachms powdered gentian, 

4 Drachms powdered aloes, 
1 Ounce common salt, 
1 Pint warm water. 

Give as a drench, and keep the animal on light mashes with an occa- 
sional injection of salt and water if necessary. 

If there is debility alteratives and tonics will be indicated : 

No. 174. 1 Ounce powdered golden seal, 

1 Ounce powdered gentian, 
1 Ounce powdered sulphur, 
1 Ounce powdered ginger, 
1 Ounce salt, 
1 Pound oatmeal. 

Mix, divide into twelve parts and give one in the feed — of good, gen- 
erous diet — nio;ht and morning. 

As a lotion for bathing the eye the following is recommended as a good 
astringent : 

No. 175. 1 Ounce powdered bayberry bark, 

1 Pint boiling water. 

Let it stand until cool. Strain through a close linen cloth, add a 
table-spoonful of tincture of bloodroot and bathe twice a day. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



DISEASES OP THE BONES. 



1- Bia HEAD AND BIG JAW. II. SWEENY OF THE SHOULDER. III. SWEENY OF THE 

HIP. IV, BONE SPAVIN. V, ENLARGED HOCK. VI. RING-BONE. VII. STIFLE. 

VIII. SPLINT. IX. SORB SHINS (INFLAMMATION OF THE METACARPAL BONE). 

X. ROTTEN BONE. XL INFLAMMATION OF THE KNEE-JOINT. XII. CARIES OF THE 

LOWER-JAW. 



I. Big Head and Big Jaw. 

* Causes. — This disease, called also exostosis of the bones, Is manifested in 
an enlargement or bony tumor on the face, on a line between the nostril 
and the eye. It finally breaks out in small holes, which discharge a thick 
j)us, and at last ends, if not treated opportunely, in a complete decay of 
the bone. The bone continually enlarges, and cells or channels are 
formed as the minute bony plates become thinner and thinner, till the 
structure can be easily cut with a knife or crushed with the fingers. The 
interstices are filled with a red, bloody mass. In some cases the ligaments 
and tendons are separated by decomposition of the bone, and crumblings, 
dislocations and fractures take place for want of firm attachment for 
these supporting ligaments. 

The primary cause of the disorder is not knoAvn ; but the tendency is 
believed to be transmitted. A horse manifesting signs of the big head 
is generally diseased not alone in the bones of the face, but the whole 
osseous system seems to be to some extent involved, so that there is not 
infrequently a soreness of the limbs and a lameness accompanying it. 
The immediate exciting cause is most probably defective nutrition — a 
want of that power of assimilation which is necessary to the supplying of 
the bones with their phosphate constituent. 

It may be developed by both over-feeding and by deficiency of food, as 
28 4.35 



436 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTO::. 

the digestive functions are deranged by either excessive burdens imposed 
upon them or want of sufficient nutrition in that food which is digested. 

It is difficult to assign any reason Avhy the general predisposition should 
be determined primarily to the face. 

It has been observed to prevail mostly in those regions where Indian 
corn is constantly fed, and in those, whatever be the predominant food, 
where the animal uses only, or chiefly, free stone w^ater — a fluid lacking 
in that phosphate element so essential to bony structures. 

Hard labor and abuse, poor food and bad stable management, doubtless 
do much to precipitate the disease. 

How to know it. — Before the visible swelling of the face there will 
generally be evident weakness, loss of appetite, laziness ; a slight suffu- 
sion of the eyes with tears — one or both according as one or both sides 
of the facial bone is affected ; then a swelling, about half way between 
the eye and the nostril, small and hard, but gradually increasing in size. 
If the swelling is pressed upon with some force the horse will wince with 
pain, but gentle rubbing seems to give ease. The lower jaw% under the 
chin, will next appear thickened ; a degree of general stiffness sets in ; 
at last the joints are swollen, and seem puffed up with wind ; the horse 
rapidly fails in flesh ; and the head becomes enormously swollen, and 
finally breaks into little openings which discharge an offensive pus. 

What to do. — It is well, perhaps, to warn the reader in the outset not 
to do any of those foolish things which characterized the old practice, 
such as boring into the diseased part and injecting corrosive poison ; lay- 
ing open the jaw and sawing out a portion of the bone ; blistering, burn- 
ing, etc. The disease is not local, but constitutional, and though perhaps 
having no other visible manifestation than on the face, it has extensive 
connection with various portions of the frame, so that purely local treat- 
ment is of little consequence. 

The first step will be to see that the patient is well stabled or other- 
wise cared for according to the season of the year, and put upon a sys- 
tematic course of food, drink, and moderate exercise in the sun. Give 
him from five to seven quarts of oats per day, and if these are boiled and 
mixed with a little wheat bran, all the better. When green vegetables 
can be had, they should be fed liberally, to counteract a sort of scorbutic 
or scurvy tendency which marks this disorder. Apples, beets, carrots, 
turnips — whatever fruit or vegetable you can get him to take is good. 
When seasonable, put him upon a bountiful pasture. 

Give the following dose night and morning in such food as he will 
most readily eat : 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 437 

No. 176. 2 Ounces chlorate of potash, 

4 Ounces powdered ginger. 

3 Ounces gentian, 

2 Ounces podophyllin, 
6 Ounces poplar bark. 

Give also with the food, once daily, 2 ounces phosphate of lime. 
Rub upon the swelled face with moderate vigor, twice daily, the fol- 
lowing preparation : 

No. 177. 6 Ounces spirits of camphor, 

4 Ounces cod liver oil, 
2 Ounces oil of cedar, 

1 Pint diluted acetic acid. 

If the case has been neglected until there are already breaks in the 
skin, and exudation of matter, adopt the previously described course, 
with this exception, that the part must be thoroughly cleansed with warm 
soap and water, and then, instead of No. 177, apply the camphorated 
corrosive sublimate every other day for six or eight times, then omit 
three days, and begin again, and so on until the skin shows signs of heal- 
ing. Apply the sublimate with a little mop of soft rags, and dry it in 
with a hot iron held near the part, or pressed smoothly over a layer of 
intervening cloths, thick enough to jDrevent actual burning. 

II. Sweeny of the Shoulder. 

The common effect of all lameness and disease of a limb is a wastinsr 
of the muscles connected therewith. Therefore in all sprains entailing 
inflammation and continued disease of a limb, and in all injuries entailing 
chronic, long-continued manifestations, there will be wasting or atrophy 
of the muscles, and in extreme cases sometimes permanent contraction, 
even of the cords of the limb. This is popularly called swinnv or sweeny. 
It is the result of disease and not the disease itself. The cause of this 
wasting must therefore be looked after in order to obviate the difficulty. 

There is, however, from sprain of the muscle outside the shoulder 
blade, a tendency to waste of the muscles, to such a degree sometimes, 
that they are so shrunken as to cause the skin to be drawn tight to the 
shoulder blade. 

Causes. — Sweeny is usually acquired by young horses, when first put 
to work, from over-strain ; or, it may occur in horses of any age, from 
hard pulling on uneven ground, by stepping into holes, etc., thus causing 
injury to the muscles of the shoulder, and particularly those supporting 
the joints. 



438 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

How to know it. — Sometimes the horse may be able to walk or even 
trot without serious difficulty. If one stand directly in front of him 
there will be seen that the affected shoulder is held in an unnatural posi- 
tion, seeming to be rolled outward farther than is natural. There will be 
a peculiar motion in the gait, and heat, tenderness and swelling on the 
outside of the joint. 

What to do. — By pressure on the parts discover the seat of the inflam- 
mation by the flinching of the animal. This found, reduce it by continued 
application of cold water to the part, if in the earlier stages. This may 
be done by folding a long blanket and hanging over the shoulder so as to 
cover the affected part. Over this keep a cloth continually wet with cold 
water, until the acute symptoms have subsided. 

After these have subsided, exercise must be given every day, either by 
driving on a smooth road or using at any light work on smooth ground. 
Every effort should be made to increase the circulation over the fallen 
muscles by active rubbing. If the case do not yield to treatment, and 
there is decided wasting, the muscle being hard, use the following : 

No. 178. 1 Pint ammonia, 

1 Quart oil. 

This should be rubbed in with considerable friction, until nearly the 
excitement of a blister is produced. This with subsequent friction and 
an occasional use of the blister, will effect a cure ; but it may take 
months of perseverance to bring the shoulder back to its j)erfect shape. 
Light exercise should be given every day. 

III. Sweeny of the Hip. 

The wasting of the muscles of the hip are due to analagous causes with 
those of the shoulder. It is, however, far more rare, since the power of 
the horse being in the hind-quarters, the enormous muscles of those parts 
act as cushions to protect the parts from injury. As a rule, the cause of 
the wasting of the muscles of the hip must be looked for lower down, 
unless the injury is known to proceed from a fall on the side. 

A careful examination of all the muscles Avill enable the owner pretty 
generally to fix the seat of the disease, from the heat and tenderness of 
the parts. This discovered, use the means prescribed for shoulder sweeny. 
In old and difficult cases, either of the shoulder or hip, it may be neces- 
sary to resort to active blistering and subsequent stimulation by means of 
the galvanic battery. In old and confirmed sweeny that has come with a 
horse bought, or from neglect at the proper time, a cure will probably 
not be effected ; but a partial restoration of the parts may be made. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 4P>0 

Sweeny has been placed among the diseases of the bones because it 
sometimes proceeds from injury to the bones and joints. The difficulty 
itself, however, is conlined to the muscles. 

IV. Bone Spavin. 

The definition of bone spavin may be given as an inflammation, ulcer- 
ation and bony deposit of the small flat bones in the lower and inner part 
of the hock joint ; or of both the outer and inner, ones, or from inflam- 
mation of the cuniform and metatarsal bones, terminating in anchylosis 
(a bony union of the parts) rendering the joint stiff. 





Foot, incapalileof being raiseil from Natural position of the Vp ililiy foot when raisea 

grounilby reasoa oi' spavin. fi'om the gmund iluniig au easy tiot. 

Causes. — Injury to the joint by concussion, sprains of the ligaments, 
Mie use of shoes with high heels or calks. Hereditary predisposition to 
spavin is common from w^eakness of the joints, bones and ligaments. 
Consequently weak limbed horses or mares, or those with spavins, or 
other diseases of the bones should never be bred from. 

Bone spavin is really one of the most formidable diseases with which 
the horseman has to deal, and the attack is sometimes so .slow and blind 
that jockeys are often enabled to put off a spavined horse on the unwary, 
the horse afterwards going dead lame. Nevertheless it will show itself 
if the horse is allowed to cool, or is ridden into the water and allowed to 
stand awhile, for a horse with spavin coming on as he becomes warmed 
the ligaments become freer in their action, and an animal lame at first, 
will go well enough afterwards ; yet, in the end the horse becomes per- 
manently lame, until the deposit about the bone, called anchylosis, 
becomes solidified, when the joint is stiff and the lameness ceases. 

Causes. — The causes producing spavin may be various. Hereditary 
weakness of the limbs is undoubtedly one of the principal causes. Thus 
a blow% a sprain, or any injury producing inflammation will cause spavin 
in such an animal, when in a strong muscled and fine boned animal it 



440 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

would yield readily to treatment. The reason is, a feverish and unhealthy 
condition of the membrane secreting the synovial fluid is produced, and 
the firm membrane affording no outlet, it settles into the spongy bone, 
and a diseased condition ensues, which the weight and motion of the 
animal intensifies until confirmed spavin is the result. When only the 
splint bone is affected there is chance for recovery, but when the cube 
bone is affected there is but little chance for relief until the disease has 
run its course, and ended in a joint more or less stiff. 

How to know it. — Sprains do not invariably cause la-meness. There 
may be little or no local swelling as in occult spavin, as ulceration is 
called, in the center of the joint between the flat bones. The swelling, 
when it does exist, is in front and on the inside and on the lower part of 
the joint, and may best be seen by standing about midway of the body 
so as to get a side view of the front of the hock. When the swelling is 
in front of the hock it is most to be feared. It is hard and is to be dis- 
tinguished from the tense but elastic swelling caused by sprain of the 
flexor tendon, or from the flexible and fluctuating swelling of bog spavin. 

The swelling of bone spavin may be more to the front or farther back 
on the inside of the hock, or even shown principally on the outside, and 
in case it extends to the true hock joint, it may end in bony formation, to 
such a degree as to close the articulation (play of the parts) and produce 
a stiff joint. The animal if turned from side to side in the stall will 
move stiff and on the toe. This same stiffness is also seen when the 
animal first starts off, but which may nearly or quite disappear when the 
animal becomes warm. The horse will sometimes jerk up the limb as 
though he had string-halt. By turning him quickly in a small circle he 
will carry the limb more or less stiff, or rest on the toe only. 

What to do. — In any case rest and a high heeled shoe should be allowed. 
In the acute stage or early in the development of the disease, place the 
horse in slings if possible. Foment thoroughly with hot water in which 
an ounce of laudanum is mixed to each two quarts of water. Give four 
drachms of aloes if the bowels are costive, and give half an ounce to an 
ounce of saltpeter in the water, morning and night, until a free flow of 
urine is had. When the inflammation has subsided blister. The follow- 
ing will be effectual : 

No. 179. 1 Part corrosive sublimate. 

12 Parts oil of turpentine, 

Mix thoroughly and rub in. Firing with a white hot iron is still more 
effectual, yet the iron and the corrosive liniment are apt to leave a blemish. 
A i:iilder preparation is : 



THE HOKSK, ITS DISEASES. 441 

No. 180. 2 Drachms oil of rosemary, 

>i Ounce powdered cantharides, 
4 Ounces mercurial ointment. 

Grind thoroughly together and rub on heating it in with a warm iron. 

If there is simply swelling, in old cases, thorough and frequent rubbing 
with oleate of mercury will dissipate what swelling has not actually be- 
come bone. Setons are also most valuable in spavin. The needle should 
be passed for a considerable space under the skin, over the seat of spavin. 
Anoint the tape with the following : 

No. 181. 1 Part powdered white hellebore, 

8 Parts lard, 
Mix with yentlc heat. 

Before the application of either blister or seton we would advise 
thrusting a narrow-pointed bistoury under the sprain and scarifying the 
parts. In no event, however, should resort be had to cutting away the 
bony parts which have formed, with mallet and chisel, as we have seen 
them. It is barbarous, inhuman, and can do no good whatever. Some 
cases will absolutely resist all and any means foi cure ; others again will 
yield kindly in from one to three months. In young horses if treatment 
be given in time, a cure may generally be effected. With old horses the 
cure is difficult. 

v. Enlargement of the Hock. 

Nature has protected the hocks in a most ample manner, to prevent 
injury under ordinary circumstances, and in fact, under exceptional cir- 
cumstances, except those of an accidental or violent nature. From vari- 
ous bruises or strains, inflammation and lameness ma}^ ensue. Rest and 
fomentations will generally set this right if taken early. Sometimes, 
however, the enlargement will continue to grow in spite of all efforts to 
the contrary, and until the entire joint is involved. 

How to know it. — There are two forms of this disease. In one, the 
tendons and cartilages only are affected. This will generally yield to 
fomentations and a few applications of oleate of mercury. If not, blister, 
using the prescription No. 180. Another form is more serious. From 
a severe blow or other cause, there is a bruise of the bone, by which the 
investing membrane, called the periosteum, is either severely strained or 
torn loose, giving rise to inflammation and formation and deposit of bony 
matter on the surface of the bone, sometimes to such a degree that the 
parts are of excessive size, and the leg so lame that it is only with great 
difficulty the animal can walk. The animal may, indeed, as in the case 



442 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of bad spavin, be capable of doing farm work even with a stiff leg, but iis 
totally unfit for driving on the road. 

What to do.— Precisely the same treatment must be pursued as in the 
case of bone spavin. Fomentations, while in the stage of fever or in- 
rtanimation, and blistering, firing and setons to assist absorption. It 
must be remembered, however, that either in spavin, or any other disease 
of the bones, joints, cartilages, or muscular tissues, that straining of the 
parts is likely to ensue again, and consequently care must be taken about 
overworking or injuring by fast driving, especially on rough ground. 

VI. King-bone. 

This is a deposit of bony matter above and below the coronet of the 
foot, just where the hair begins above the hoof, or of the bone of the 
hoof, as the coffin bone is called, or bony growth on the pasterns. 

Causes. — It is caused by heavy work, hard pulling by draft horses, 
bruises of the bone by pounding of the feet on hard roads and pavements, 
generally beginning as inflammation of the membranes covering the 
bones, and at these points giving attachments to the ligaments at the side 
of the lower- or small pastern bone, or of the loAver end of the upper or 
laro"e pastern. Sometimes the bony formation proceeds to such an ex- 
tent, involving and covering the whole surface, as to produce a kind of 
club foot. 

How to know it. — There may be lameness or not, except on hard 
ground, or upon binding the limb, in old-seated ring-bones. During the 
beginning of the evil, or.Avhile there is inflammation, and a tender, elas- 
tic swelling, and a more or less doughy state (engorgement) of the soft 
parts. In the course of the disease this matter becomes hard, from being 
turned into a soft or spongy bony formation. The swelling may be 
scarcely seen and confined to the sides of the pastern bone, or there may 
be great enlargement of the whole surface. If the trouble occurs in a 
fore-leg, the heel is put down first ; if the ring-bone is in the hind-foot, 
and in the sides or back part of the pastern, the toe will be put down 
first. 

What to do. — ^For the fore-foot, put on a thin-heeled bar shoe. If ir. 
the hind-foot, a high-heeled shoe. That is, if the animal walks on the 
toe, use a high-heeled shoe ; if on the heel, a thin-heeled shoe. If there 
is inflammation, known by heat and tenderness, use fomentations of hot 
water, perseveringly applied until it is reduced. Then blister severely 
with the folio wins;: 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 443 

No. 182. 10 Drops muriatic acid, 

20 Grains corrosive sublimate, 
20 Grains camphor, 
1 Ounce oil of turpentine. 

Mix, and apply until a sufficient blister is formed : then wash off to 
prevent blemish and keep the blister running as long as possible, hy cov- 
ering Avith a rag well smeared with mutton talloAv. Blister again if neces- 
sary. Or, use the means pursued in spavin, oleate of mercury, if the 
case is not difficult. 

If the ring-bone has been of long standing, the only relief will be th*e 
growth of bony matter over the joint. There will be more or less stiff- 
ness in the joint, but the horse may do slow work. Old horses are more 
difficult to cure than young ones, and in any case to avoid blemish, the 
case must be taken at the first indication. Then thorough fomentations, 
slight blistering, a proper shoe and rest Avill accomplish a cure. If there 
is simply a hardening of the integuments, oleate of mercury, in developed 
ring-bone or spavin, will reduce so much of it as is not already bonv 
growth. 

VII. Stifle. 

Any difficulty of the stifle joint, by which the animal is more or less 
disabled from the use of the limb, is by the generality of horsemen 
termed stifling, it being supposed to be a dislocation of the stifle bone, 
corresponding to the knee-pan in man. Dislocation, however, is ex- 
tremely rare. The displacement of the whirlbone of the stifle joint when 
it occurs, will cause the animal to throw the limb straight out behind. 
This form often becomes chronic ; that is, occure, and the habit is fixed 
from apparently slight causes, or any cause that shall compel the animal 
to throAv the leg back farther than is usual in going at a slow gait. It is 
often produced in the first place by catching the hind leg or hoof in some- 
thing which forcibly holds it. 

How to know it. — The horse will hold the leg extended out behind „ 
the head will be raised and the animal will go on three legs ; there is 
every evidence of extreme pain, but no heat nor SAvelling. Upon exam- 
ining the stifle bone, the patella, corresponding to the knee pan in man, 
will be found outside those against which it should fit. When tlie 
dislocation is inward, the limb will be draAvn upward. 

What to do. — Get the animal into a close place ; have him held firmly 
by the head ; pass a rope about the fetlock and over any projection, so 
the limb may be drawn forward. Bring the limb forward and upAvard, 
and standing behind and against the hip, press the bone toAvard and into 



444 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

its place. Hold it there firmly until the muscles regain their original 
contractibility in some measure, and use an infusion of bayberry or oak 
bark, cold, freely, for some days. 

In addition to this it is better that the horse be made to stand on the 
injured limb. To do this it is usual to tie a cord tightly about the other 
hind leg. This is apt to make a blemish. Tie the other foot so it cannot 
be thrown back. 

In nine cases out of ten when the owner supposes his horse to be stifled 
t^e difficulty will be found to be from injury to some other part of the 
limb, as sprain of any of the ligaments of the leg, of the fetlock, a 
prick of the hoof, etc., causing the animal to hold the limb in such a 
way as to cause the stifle bone to seem displaced. 

Horses often injure the parts around the stifle joint by running, leaping, 
or from bruises or other hurts. In this case the treatment is to be the 
same as in any other sprain or bruise. In mild cases the following will 
be found good to bathe the sprain or bruise with : 

Ko. 183. 1 Ounce tincture of arnica, 

1 Pint rain water. 

Bathe the affected part freely with this from time to time. If the 
difficulty is severe, fomentations of hot water must be perse veringly used 
until the inflammation subsides, and then resort may be had to blistering 
if necessary, or a seton may be placed under the affected part to get up 
counter irritation. In severe cases the cure is slow and the animal must 
have absolute rest. 

In any difficulty in or about the stifle joint, it is well to examine care- 
fully for wounds or bruises. 

A wound of the parts will often cause intense pain, and to the unin- 
itiated, apparently all the symptoms of dislocation. The veterinarian is 
never deceived, and no one need be if he brings common sense and a 
careful examination to bear upon any wound, bruise, strain or other 
injury. There will be blood, matter, swelling or heat in the part af- 
fected. This found, use the remedies prescribed in such cases. 

VIII. Splint. 

Causes. — The name is given to a peculiar enlargement generally found 
on the outside of the small bones of the fore leg, and inside the leg. 
The causes are not well defined. Splint may be caused by violent blows 
or other injuries, but it seems to be more a consequence of weight and 
strain. The inner splint bone, or small bone of the leg, is placed nearer 
the center of the body than the other, and there is at almost all times 
greater weight upon it, while on certain occasions it may also be subjected 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 445 

to more violent strain, whence inflammation may set in, and a bony 
deposit result. Raising the outer heel of the shoe more than ordinarily, 
contributes in some degree to produce an unnatural strain upon this bone. 
The term splint is applied also to those bony tumors that sometimes ap- 
pear on the outer shank bone. These are more readily accounted for, 
as this part of the leg is peculiarly liable to blows and other injuries. 

How to know it. — In the first stage of the disease, while the splint is 
forming, there is inflammation of the periosteum or bone-covering mem- 
l)rane ; there is lameness : and though no swelling may yet be visible, 
you can discover it by passing the open hand down the side of the leg, 
with the thumb on the small bone, or rather in the groove formed by the 
two small bones. A small, hard swelling will be found, which, being 
pressed upon, will cause the animal to flinch. 

When the tumor is well-developed and plain to the sight, it is not gen- 
erally attended Avith lameness, from the fact that the periosteum has ac- 
commodated itself to the new formation, and the inflammation, with 
consequent soreness, has subsided. Then it happens that a very little 
splint will often cause more lameness than one which is so large as to be 
easily seen at a distance. 

In cases of much inflammation and extreme soreness, the horse stands 
resting the toe upon the ground, with the leg slightly bent; and this 
great heat may extend itself by sympathy to the soft parts of the leg 
nearest the splint, but this is seldom the case. 

Sometimes the animal is apparently free from all trouble when merely 
put to a walk, but will discover extreme lameness in trotting — the extra 
concussion producing much pain, and examination, as previously directed, 
will disclose the seat of the trouble. 

What to do. — If the protuberance is small, and there is no lameness, 
do nothing, unless the horse is valuable and the tumor is unsightly. It 
will disappear by natural absorption as the animal increases in years, 
provided there is no directly exciting cause constantly at work. An 
unskillful attempt to cure will sometimes lead to lameness and an increase 
of the splint. 

If it is a recent formation, and treatment is thought necessary, observe 
whether the irritation is such as to have produced extreme tenderness of 
the part, and swelling of the soft parts of the leg. If so, lessen the 
inflammation, and thus also the soreness,, by cool, softening poultices, or 
frequent application of cold salt and water. Then shave the hair off 
from over and around the protuberance, and rub in, at eNiening, the fol- 
lowing mercurial ointment : 

No. 184. 1 Drachm biniodide of mercury, 

1 Ounce lard. 



446 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Continue this until a free watery discharge is produced from the sur- 
face. As a genera] rule this is sufficient, for even though it may not 
directly disappear, it will gradually do so from this time, unless the 
tumor interferes materially with the ligaments or tendons. 

If it is large, or near the joint, or extends so as to destroy the motion 
that naturally exists between the two small bones, cast the horse, and 
secure him from violent struggling — then scarify the periosteum or 
membrane covering the bone, over the splint. For this purpose, have a 
small, probe-like knife, shaped like a scimiter, with the cutting edge on 
the convex side. Make a small opening about an inch below the splint, 
turn the little probe knife flat and insert it into this opening and urge it 
forward until the point has passed over the protuberance. Now turn the 
cutting edge down, and scarify the periosteum well, making several cuts 
across the splint, and with such force as to reach the naked bone every 
time. Withdraw the knife and insert a seton needle, with tape tixed as 
usual ; pass the point up past the splint, send it through tiie skin, and 
draw the tape through. Slightly enlarge the upper end of the tape, so 
that it cannot come out below, and the work is done. Suppuration will 
ensue in from seven to fourteen days ; absorption will follow, and the 
splint will almost invariably disappear. 

During treatment the horse should be kept from work, as any consider- 
able exercise, particularly any straining in harness, or concussion by rapid 
motion, will increase lameness and render cure more tedious and difficult. 

IX. Sore Shins— Inflammation of the Metacarpal Bones. 

This is an inflammation of the membrane covering the shank bones, 
and is not confined to any particular classes of horses, though racing or 
other fast worked horses are more subject to the affection than are draft 
horses, the difficulty generally occurring before the animal becomes 
mature. 

Causes. — The cause is undoubtedly over-working and abuse before the 
bones and integuments become fully developed. 

How to know it. — The lameness resembles that of splint. There is 
swelling over the shin bone, which is tense as though stretched, elastic, 
and doughy to the touch. There is heat and tenderness, and sometimes 
the swelling becomes excessive, and breaks, but always preserves its elas- 
tic feeling. Or the swelling may not be extensive, but gradually hardens 
through the formation of bony matter, until at length the pain disappears. 

In these slight cases, the matter thrown out between the bone and 
membrane, is generally converted into a bony formation and the skin re- 
mains permanently thickened. In severe cases the throwing out of 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 447 

matter (lymph) may separate the membrane and the bone, and eventuate 
in necrosis, or death of the bone. 

What to do. — If the diificulty is not severe, cold water faithfully ap- 
plied during the inflammatory stage, and later, blisters, will be all that 
will be necessary. In fact, treat it precisely as is recommended for 
splint. 

In very severe cases, where there is great tenderness, and decided 
doughy swelling, make a series of incisions with a bistoury or narrow- 
bladed knife, carrying the blade a short way beneath the skin, and then 
cutting down to the bone. This is done to let the contents escape. Use 
as a fomentation hot water containing half an ounce to an ounce of laud- 
anum to a pint, and afterwards with cold water. If the healing is not 
prompt, apply a blister. In a majority of cases it should yield by apply- 
ing the following astringent lotion : 

No. 185. 60 Drops carbolic acid, 

>i Ounce sugar of lead, 
2 Quarts rainwater. 

It may be necessary, in fact it will be better, to give a purgative, 4 or 
5 drachms of aloes, to be followed by 20 drops tincture of aconite, three 
or four times a day. The animal should have perfect rest and be kept 
on sound hay and bran mashes. 

X. Rotten Bone. 

This is called necrosis when it attacks the shaft or body of the horse, 
and caries when it is confined to the ends at its joints. 

Causes. — Death and decay of the bone, from inflammation. It is lia- 
ble to occur in poll-evil, founder, from cracked or broken bones, and 
inflammation of the membranes. 

How to know it. — There will be severe inflammation, followed by one 
or more abscesses, which break and discharge. They do not heal, but 
form fistulas (pipes). The discharge at first may be thin and without 
smell, but after a time there is a peculiar and fetid odor, characteristic 
of decayed bone. 

What to do. — The proper thing to do is to cut down at once to the 
decayed bone, scrape it clean, remove all loose portions, wash the wound 
with chloride of zinc lotion, made as follows : 

No. 186. 40 Grains chlonde of zinc, 

1 Ounce distilled water. 

The wound made in cutting is to be treated as is any wound. If the 



448 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

ruttino" be extensive enough to warrant it close with stitches, cover with 
lint steeped in oil to which a little carbolic acid is added. If healing do 
not progress satisfactorily, that is if the granulations at the edges do not 
contract fast enough, stimulate by washing with tincture of aloes and 
myrrh. So far as this cutting and scarifying is concerned it should be 
done by a surgeon. If this cannot be done, open the fistulas clear to the 
bottom and wash out once a day with the following • 

No. 187. % Ounce sulplmto of zinc, 

^ Ounce bulpliiite of copper, 

1 Ounce solution of sub-acetate of lead, 

6 Ounces pyroligeous aciil, (or better, white wine vinegar;. 

To one part of this use ten parts of water, and inject with force from 
a syringe once a day for two weeks if necessary. 

XI. Inflammation of the Knee-joint- 

Inflammation of the knee or other joints may occur in all stages, from 
the most simple form to those most violent, with ulceration, and the 
formation of destructive abscesses. 

Causes. — Jarring on hard roads ; various injuries, such as bruises, 
strains, etc. 

How to know it. — In light cases the horse in starting forward will do 
so from the knee and with pain. There will be excessive flinching if the 
knee is extended by force. The animal stands square on his feet, and 
without inclination to raise the heel. In walking he takes a fair step, but 
carries the knee joint as much without bending as possible, and in putting 
down his foot exerts the greatest pressure on the heel. 

What to do. — :Take off the shoes. Treat the inflammation as directed 
in other cases ; first by hot water embrocations perseveringly applied, 
using laudanum as directed if necessary to relieve pain. There must be 
perfect rest, and if the animal will use the limb put him in slings, and 
apply splints and bandages to the knee. The inflammation having been 
cured, blister the parts, to promote absorption of the fluids. When the 
animal is better let him have the run of a quiet ]nisture until entirely 
sound, or keep him m the stable with gentle walking exercise every day, 

XII. Caries of the Lower-jaw. 

Causes. — Caries, or ulceration of the lower jaw bone, between the 
tushes and grinders, is caused almost wholly by the barbarous use of bits 
and curb-chains. Injury is also sometimes inflicted upon the bony plate 
of the roof of the mouth l)y pressure of the curb, when a tight nose 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 449 

band keeps the mouth shut down. The gums of the lower jaw are very 
often hurt, and not infrequently the bone itself is so bruised as to result 
in this ulceration. When this is the case, the gum, unless forcibly opened, 
must slough, so that the injured portion of the bone can be cast off. Thus 
a stinking sore is made, and one of long continuance, as the scaling of the 
bone and the escape of the loosened particles is a tedious process, and 
attended no little suffering. 

How to know it. — Examination of the gums is necessary to disclose the 
trouble when it exists simply as a bruise. The spot will appear of a 
color different from the adjacent parts, and pressure upon it will cause 
the animal to wince with pain. Even if neglected till there is a discharg- 
ing sore, it is not always detected at once, as the discharge is, in the 
beginning, of a watery character, and is lost in the saliva, though con- 
stantly going on. On contact with the bit, however, there is a mixture 
of blood and watery matter, and some of this escapes constantly while 
the horse is in use. This ought to attract the attention of the master, if 
nothing else has, and lead to thorough examination. There will be found, 
in that case, a depression in the gum, and, fixed to the bottom of the 
cavity, a mass of proud flesh. The discharge will be characterized by a 
very offensive stench. 

What to do. — If the bruised place on the gum, accompanied with sens- 
itiveness to pressure, is discovered before there is any break or exudation 
of matter, have a strong, keen knife, and cut to the bone. The incision 
made ought to correspond with the extent of the bruised bone. The 
grating of the knife upon this sore portion will cause the horse to strug- 
gle with more or less violence, owing to the exceeding soreness and ten- 
derness of the injured part ; and this may in some sort furnish a guide 
as to the amount of incision necessary. If the opening is too small for 
the scaled bone to be easily cast out, it will be necessary to employ the 
bone forceps with which to grasp and withdraw it. 

Upon cutting it, a thin, watery fluid will flow out. Care must now be 
taken to see that the incision is not allowed to close over and retain the 
injured bone, as this would ultimately result in a foul and troublesome 
ulcer. 

When the discharge has somewhat thickened, and is peculiarly of- 
fensive to the smell, showing that the bone is decaying and that nature is 
making an eifort to cast off the injured portion, wash it out with the 
syringe, several times a day, Avith the following solution : 

No. 188. 1 Scruple cliloride of zinc, 

4 Dmchins essence of ani^e seed, 
1 Pint water. 



450 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

If treatment is deferred, however, till there is an open, ulcerous gum, 
with the existence of proud flesh, push a stick of lunar caustic deep into 
the unhealthy granulation in the cavity, so as to destroy it. Then keep 
down the fungous growth by the use of the caustic, day after day, until 
the stinkinjr discharo-e has ceased. This will not be until the bone has 
ceased to scale away ; and the wound may now be safely left to heal. 

A cure affected, the next thing to do is to select a bit that shall press 
upon another part of the mouth, or there may be a repetition of the evil. 
The snaffle may be used with comparative safety where the curb has in- 
flicted serious hurt. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



I. ULCERATION OF THE FOOT (NAVICULAR DISEASE). II. CRACKED HOOFS. III. HOOP 

ROT. IV. CORNS. V. CONTRACTION OF THE HOOF (NARROW HEEL). VI. INJU" 

RIES TO THE FROG. VII. FOUNDER. VIII. NAIL PRICKING. IX. CANKER X. 

SAND CRACK. XI. FALSE QUARTER. XII. QUITTOR. XIII. TOE CRACK. XIV. 

PUMICE FOOT. XV. SEEDY TOE. XVI. OSSIFIED CARTILAGES. XVII. SIDE BONES. 

XVIII. INCISED AND PUNCTURED WOUNDS OP THE SOLE, 



I. Ulceration of the Foot— (Navicular Disease). 

Between the coffin bone and lower pastern there is n small bone which 
forms the projection of the heel and rests upon the frog of the foot. 
This bone is called the shuttle or. navicular bone. The inflammation of 
the surface of this bone is called the navicular disease. It may implicate 
the sjuiovial sac, the ligaments and the flexor tendon which plays over it. 
One of the uses of the navicular bone is to give increased strength to the 
connection between the coffin bone and the joint above. Another use is 
to enable the flexor tendon, which passes over it and is joined to the 
coffin bone, to give increased pliability, strength and motion to the foot. 
In high bred horses, and all those used for fast work, this bone is 
peculiarly liable to injury and consequently to disease. This disease is 
inflammation and subsequent ulceration of this highly organized bone. 
The difficulty may extend to the interior of the bone to the tendon which 
passes over its surface and even involve the adjacent parts. 

Causes- — It is thought that a rheumatic constitution predisposes an 
animal to this disease. Certain it is that highly organized and weak 
limbed animals most usually suffer from it, probably from the fact that 
they are not able to withstand an injury that a stronger limbed animal 
would do, especially when carrying a bad fitting shoe, or subject to 
violent exertion or over strain of any kind. Other causes than bad shoes 
29 451 



452 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and coucustiiou of the bone may exist, injury from nails picked up on th» 
road, impaired nutrition, by which the bones are not sufficiently nourished 
acting to assist injury to the bone. 

How fo know it. — The foot will feel hot, yet particular heat is not 
always present. The toe will be pointed, in the stable, eight or ten inches 
before the other, and with the heel slightly raised. This peculiarity may 
indeed be noticed often for a long time before any particular lameness is 
noticed. By-and-by the animal Avill be observed to step short, and on 
the toe, with liability to stumble when first taken out of the stable. This 
will disappear as the animal gets warm, but will show again when cool- 
The toe of the shoe will become more worn than other parts. As the 
disease progresses the hoof will decrease in size, particularly in the 
quarters and heels. Trying the edges of the hoofs will not make the 
animal flinch unless there be corns, but by tapping the sole on each side 
of the body of the frog with a hammer, or upon the walls of the hoof 
about the quarters, will give pain. By bending the foot back and press- 
ing with the thumb in the hollow of the heel on either side of the flexo)' 
tendon, with considerable force, it will cause intense pain. These are all 
characteristic tests. There may be sweeny of the shoulder from disease 
of the muscles. This is an effect of the disease and not a disease in 
itself. 

What to do. — If the injury is new, the first thing to be done is to re- 
duce the inflammation. Do this with cold water applications or any of 
the remedies advised for ring-bone, spavin, or other inflammation. Give in 
ilaxative dose, 4 drachms of aloes ; have the shoes taken off and let the 
horse stand during the day time in pure wet clay up to the top of the 
hoof, and at night poultice the foot. If there is much inflammation, 
bleed in the arteries above the coronet. The coronet is the lowest part 
of the pastern, Avhere the hair grows around the hoof. Keep the horse 
perfectly quiet, and if he has a fast pulse, give an ounce of salt petre in 
the drinking water night and morning. At the end of two weeks, or 
sooner if the inflammation is gone, blister the coronet all around. Or. 
use the following : 

No. 189. 1 Ounce camphor gum, 

1 Ounce corrosive sublimate, 
1 Pint oil turpentine 

Grind the sublimate thoroughly in a mortar, and put into a strong bot- 
tle ; pour on the turpentine and shake occasionally. It should be fit for 
use in from 20 to 30 hours. This is to be applied every other day to the 
heel and bottom of the foot, first paring away all scaly, ragged part.^. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 



453 



Heat it in with a Iiot iron. This preparation is of great strength and 
]jower and must be used canefully. 

If preferred, a seton may be put in the bottom of the foot at the frog. 
To do this, lirst pare the scale as thin as possible without reaching the 
(j[uick ; provide a sharp, short, well-curved needle threaded with tape ; 
pierce the sole about an inch from the toe, and bring out midway be- 
tween the two parts of the frog and the hoUow of .the heel ; or enter at 
the hollow of the heel and bring out the needle at the body of the frog. 
The utmost care must be had not to pierce deep enough to injure the 
tendon or bursa which lies close there. Tie the tape, and wet daily with 
No. 189, or the following: 



No. 190. 



1 Part powdered cantharides, 
1 Part oil of turpentine, 
8 Parts Canada balsam. 



Shake the two first well together and add the balsam, shaking occa- 
sionally for 24 hours, and apply to the seton tape every day, turning it 
at the same time. The object in this disease is to produce suppurative 
running of the parts. This done, the cure is only a question of time. 

If, in spite of all that has been done for relief, the disease proceeds to 
deofeneration of the bone, resort must be had to cuttino; the nerves lead- 
ing to the foot, (Neurotomy) which will be described in the proper 
chapter. 

n. Cracked Hoofs. 



Causes. — This is not an unusual occurrence in 
horses, and arises, as a rule, from weak and 
brittle hoofs, produced by a dry state of the 
hoof, whatever niay be the cause, whether fever 
or other causes of degeneration. The prolific 
causes are dr^ang of the Avail of the hoof, 
uneven bearinc; of the shoe, calkina: or other 
.wounds or injuries of the coronet. This crack 
may extend down from the coronet according to 
the time it is allowed to run. 




CLOSING CEACK IN HOOF. 



What to do. — If taken early, a bar shoe, 
having an even bearing all round will generally 

relieve the difficulty. In connection with this, apply a plaster of pitch 
over the injury. 

If the crack becomes determined, as in the cut given, it must be kept 



454 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

closed together by clincliing a thin nail on each side of the gap near the 
bottom and top, or else with thin wire as shown in the cut. 

Also burn a groove just below the crack about an inch long nearly 
down to the quick. It is also well to slightly blister the coronet at the 
top of crack. An efficient and stimulating liniment will be the oil of 
cantharides, made as follows : 

No. 191. 1 Ounce powdered cantharides, 

8 Ounces olive oil. 

Mix in a strong bottle and set it in water kept near the boiling heat for 
three or four hours, and iilter through close linen. Apply once a day 
with friction until the part is tender. Let the horse have rest, or turn 
into a pasture until cured. 

III. Hoof Rot. 

This difficulty, sometimes called tender feet, arises from diseases of 
various kinds, spavin, ring bone, chronic founder, navicular disease. 
There is a dry, feverish state of all the parts, and the hoof, and especially 
the sole, becomes decayed and sometimes perishes entirely. 

How to know it. — The bottom of the hoof is dry and chalk-like, so 
that it may easily be dug away wath the point of a knife, or even easily 
scraped away. The frog of the foot diminishes in size, and the ankle 
joints are apt to swell. The horse steps short and goes lame, if in one 
foot, or if in lK)th, cripples in his gait. The affected foot will be pointed 
forward to enable the animal to rest on the sound foot, or if both are 
affected, first one and then the other will be placed forward. Sweeny or 
wasting of the muscles of the leg and shoulder result simply from disease 
of the limb. 

What to do. — Remove the shoe, pare away all unsound portions of the 
hoof until all the pumiced parts are got rid of ; also the frog and the 
sides of the hoof. Stimulate the liottom of the hoof hy washing with No. 
189 once a day for three days, heating it in with a hot iron. Then omit 
for two or three davs and commence ao;ain. Durino- the treatment the 
animal must be kept in the stable and the feet should be kept dry. 
When hoof rot is due to other diseases, as ulceration of the navicular 
joints, it will do no good to follow the rule laid down until the cause of 
the difficulty is removed. 

IV. Corns. 

Corns are in very many cases the result of other diseases, tending to 
weakening of the sole rather than the result of a bruise to a sound hoof. 



THE HOKSE, ITS DISEASES. 455 

Thus a horse with corns should be thoroughly examined for injury to the 
bones of the hoof, rotten hoof, etc. 

Causes. — A bruise on the sole below the bars and the wall at the heel, 
producing a horny tumor or hardening, which presses on the quick. 
Sometimes there is inflammation, owing to the formation of matter 
which works out either at the top of the hoof or at the toe, from the 
formation of a fistula. Then it is Quittor. They may be found on 
either side of the heel, but usually on the inner or weaker side. 

How to know it. — There Avill be flinching when the walls of the hoof 
and sole are seized and strained with the pincers ; thus revealing on 
which side and the locality of the corn. The toe will be pointed, when 
at rest, and with the heel slightly raised. In motion the gait will be 
short and stumbling. If it has proceeded to suppuration, the pain will 
be so extreme that the horse Avill fear to put the foot to the ground. If 
there is a horny tumor forming, it may be known upon paring the hoof 
by the evident appearance of a white, spongy, horny formation, as in sand 
crack. 

What to dO' — If the corns proceed from other disease, causing con- 
traction and other disabilities of the hoof, remove these causes and the 
corns will disappear. If the corns proceed from a simple and recent 
bruise, remove the shoe and rasp down the bearing surface of the heels, 
so there may be no pressure. That is, the heels should be rasped lower 
than the other bearing surfaces. If there is inflammation, let the hoofs 
rest in cold water, or keep them moist with a wet cloth and the sole with 
a soft sponge, or the whole hoof may be enveloped in a large sponge cut 
to fit. The animal should wear a bar shoe, arranged to avoid pressure 
on the parts affected. When the foot ceases to be tender, keep the hoof 
and sole smeared with the following ointment, to render it soft and pro- 
mote healthy growth : 

No. 192. yi Ounce tallow, 

1 Ounce oil of turpentine, 
4 Ounces beeswax. 

Use the horse at light work until entireh'- recovered. 

If the difficulty be found to be a suppurating corn (one containing 
matter), the hoof must be cut down to let all the matter escape; cut 
awa>^ all the horn that has become separated from the quick, and pare 
away all the horn around the parts lo a thin edge. Poultice the part 
with a linseed poultice, renewed until there is no longer tenderness, and 
the surface is smooth and healthy. Then put on a bar shoe with a 
leather sole, and fill the space from behind with tar held in place with a 



156 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

stuffing of tow. Give entire rest and no j)ressure on the heel until the 
sole of the foot has grown out naturally. 

If the corn has become a tumor it should be cut out, and the same 
treatment pursued as advised for a corn that has formed matter. 

Old corns sometimes result in disorganization of the parts, or death of 
a portion of the heel, disease of the bone of the foot, or ulceration of 
the cartilage. In this case they must be treated as advised for Quittor or 
for navicular disease. 

V. Contraction of the Hoof, Narrow Heel. 

In a healthy condition the hoof of a horse should be nearly round. 
Whatever shape the hoof may assume, it is not a disease in itself but the 
result of disease or of some disability. It is generally the result of 
fever in the feet from injury to bones, ligaments or frog, or the effect of 
founder, etc. Contraction of the hoof exists in nearly all diseases of 
the feet, and may occur from standing idle in the stable. So it may 
result from undue paring of the heels, the bars on the frog, from a shoe 
remaining on so long that the foot is prevented from taking its natural 
orowth . 

O 

What ta do. — The only thing is to remove the shoes and round the 
edges of the hoofs to prevent their being broken or split, and keep the 
affected hoofs standing every day from early in the morning until late at 
night in puddled clay reaching well up the hoofs. Continue this for two, 
three, or four Aveeks as the case may be. Then use prescription No. 
192 as a hoof ointment until the hoof is brought back to its natural 
shape as near as may be. In shoeing let the shoe be without bevel on its 
upper side, and let the bearing be equal on all parts of the wall of the 
hoof. 

VI. Injuries of the Frog. 

The frog of the horse's foot is especially liable to injury from being 
bruised upon projecting stones, pierced b}^ nails and splinters. It is also 
liable to inflammation of the secreting membrane, resulting in the forma- 
tion of matter, and to canker. 

What to do. — In all bruises with soreness pare away the frog carefully 
until the difficulty is found. If bruised, treat it by using the liniment 
No. 189. If pierced Avith some sharp substance extract it and inject 
tincture of aloes and myrrh. If the difficulty be thrush, caused by expo- 
sure to wet and filth, bruise of the fros;, hard substance lodged in the 
cleft, or other cause, there will be soreness of the skin behind the cleft 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 457 

of the frog, and a bad smelling discharge from the cleft with more or 
less lameness. 

Wash the affected parts thoroughly. Cut away all ragged surfaces 
and press into the cleft or wound dry calomel, or finely powdered sul- 
phate of copper. 

VII. Pounder. 

Founder, or inflammation of the feet, called by veterinarians laminitis, 
consists in fever, inflammation of the sensitive parts of the foot, including 
the laminaB, and of the foot bone, but is most severe in the forward por- 
tion, where greatest strain occurs when 'standing. Acute inflamination of 
the foot, or founder, differs but little in its physical manifestations from 
other inflammatory symptoms, except that it seems more complete and 
permanent. Acute founder is generally produced by overwork or over- 
heating and exhaustion and sudden cooling, while the sub-acute form 
may be the result of diseases of the respiratory organs, suddenly leaving 
those parts and manifesting itself in the extremities. 

Causes. — The disease may be brought about directly from hard work 
on diy, solid roads, and consequent strain on the laminae (scale of the 
bones), from over-feeding or drinking cold water when warm, especially 
when the predisposing cause already exists. So it may be brought about 
by other diseases, as inflammation of the lungs. Heavy, fat horses are 
especially predisposed to founder, and so are those with small and de- 
formed or large, flat feet. 




ACUTE FEVER IN THE FEET. 



How to know it. — There will be general fever and stiffness, and sore- 
ness ; there may or may not be shivering. Soon extreme tenderness of 
the feet follows, generally most severe in the forward part, but soon in 
the heel ; the pulse is strong, full and rapid ; the breathing quickened. 



458 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

with dilated nostrils ; the intensity of the pain will often cause the animai 
to groan and to break out into a sweat. If pushed backward the horse 
will elevate the toes and throw his weight on the heels by a peculiar 
motion. The hoof and frog will be hot and very sensitive to pressure, 
and the arteries of the pasterns will beat with violence. 

"When the inflammation is in the hind feet, the fore feet are carried as 
far under the body as possible to support the weight, while the hind feet 
are thrown forward to bring the weight upon the heels. In either case, 
the animal will often lie stretched out for hours to relieve the intense 
pain of the feet. 

Founder has sometimes been mistaken for a disease called myositis, an 
inflammation of the muscles of the limbs, especially of the hind quarters 
and loins. They should never be so mistaken, as an observation of the 
several symptoms will show. 

Founder. — First one foot and then the other is lifted from the ground. 

Lying down lessens the pain and the fever of the feet. 

The difficulty usually occurs in the fore feet. 

Myositis. — Both^ feet are kept on the ground with refusal to move 
either. 

The animal will not lie down, and if thrown down the pain is increased. 

Generally in the hind quarters. 

In many cases the symptoms are not so aggravated as we have shown, 
but the symptoms, whether one or more of the feet are affected, are the 
same, and often, especially when repeated attacks have been suffered, 
leave the animal with seed}'^ toe, pumiced feet, corrugated and other- 
wise distorted hoofs, and always more or less liable to recurrence of stiff 
spells during life. 

What to do. — In light cases, when discovered early, clothe the animal 
warmly, give twenty drops of tincture of aconite every two hours, pre^ 
ceded by a gentle laxative, say 

No. 193. 2 to 3 Drachms powdered aloes, 

1 Ounce bicarbonate of soda. 

Mix in a pint of water and give as a drench. If there is severe pain 
give ounce doses of laudanum every hour until an effect is produced. 

As an application to the feet keep them in large warm poultices of 
linseed meal and water, or let the feet be placed in water kept as hot as 
the animal can bear. Put him in slings by all means, if they can be pro- 
cured. Have the shoes carefully taken off as soon as the sedatives given 
Avill allow him to bear the pain. As early as possible the animal should 
be bled in the veins above the coronets of the affected feet. The bleed- 
ing will be assisted by the feet being placed in hot water, and for this 
reason, if for no other, the slings should be used as quickly as possible. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 459 

If there is much thirst make the drink slightly sour with cream of 
tartar. If at the end of two days the fever and tenderness does not get 
better pare down the soles and open them at the toe to let out any watery 
matter that may exist, for fear the horn may separate from the quick, 
keeping on the poultices afterwards as before. When the inflammation 
subsides blister the pasterns and apply the corrosive liniment No. 189 to 
the soles of the feet, and keep the horse standing on soft clay, or if in 
Summer time turn him into a moist, soft pasture. 

As a rule, neither bleeding from the neck or active purging should 
be allowed in founder. There are, however, cases occasionally in simple 
founder, from overfeeding when tired, or giving cold water when warm, 
when a gallon of blood taken from the neck and an active purge of a 
quart of linseed oil has acted like a charm, the patient recovering almost 
immediately. In this the operator must be guided by circumstances. If 
the horse is fat and full of blood it will tend to reduce the inflammation 
by drawing the blood to another part of the system. If so the blood 
should be allowed to flow in a full stream. 

VIII. Nail Pricking. 

The prick of a nail in shoeing, or from having a nail enter the foot in 
traveling often leads to the most serious consequences if allowed to pro- 
ceed, such as ulceration, ending in quittor and other disabilities. An 
animal being lame without swelling, inflammation or other indication of 
strain or bruise, the feet should be carefully examined, and the nail or 
other substance bo cut out, at whatever pains it may take. Then dress 
the parts with hot pitch, cover with tow and give the animal rest for a 
few days. 

IX Canker. 

This is one of the diseases that may arise from the prick of a nail or 
bruise. Again it may occur without apparent cause. 

How to know it. — It is a disease most prevalent in heavy, coarse-boned 
horses. The frog will become large, spongy, and covered with a fun- 
gous growth of a cheesy texture, and throwing out an abundant colorless, 
bad smelling fluid. If cut away it will again quickly spring into growth. 
The discharge is more offensive than in thrush, and the disease more ob- 
stinate, often resisting treatment for a long time. 

What to do. — The horse must be kept in a clean, dry, well-ventilated 
stable. All distsased portions of the hoof must be carefully pared off so 
fur as the knife may be able. The cure consists in destroying the fun- 



460 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

"•oid fifranulations. Thus in cuttino" do not be alarmed at the sio^ht of 
blood from the canker. Over the well portion of the hoof spread the 
following : 

No. 194. 4 Grains chloride of zinc, 

1 Ounce flour. 
Mix, and apply dry. 

Cover the diseased parts with the following : 

No. 195. >a Ounce chloride of zinc, 

4 Ounces Hour. 

Tack on the shoe lightly, pad the parts within the shoe well, and secure 
good pressure by cross pieces driven firmly within the shoe. The second 
day after remove the shoe and padding, cut away everything that appears 
to be ill a sloughing condition ; repeat the dressing every two days until 
the parts are sound. As soundness begins to appear in portions of the 
surface, dress these with the following ; that is, when fungoid granula- 
tions have ceased to sprout : 

No. 196. 2 Grains chloride of zinc, 

1 Ounce flour. 

As the canker improves, the dressings may be extended to the third or 
fourth day, and during the whole time of treatment the horse should be 
liberally fed, and be exercised gently for four hours every day. 

X. Sand Crack. 

These are of two kinds, quarter crack, occurring in the inner quarter 
of the fore foot, and toe crack, occurring in the toe of the hind foot, 
both being cracks and fissures in the walls of the hoofs, beginning at the 
coronet and extending downwards. 

Causes. — Defective quality of the hoof, causing brittleness ; bad shoe- 
ing, or splitting of the hoofs from hard driving on solid roads. 

How to know it. — When the horse leans his weight on the hoof, the 
crack will open ; when the foot is lifted the crack will close. Sand and j 
dirt work into the parts, causing excessive pain and lameness, often fever 
and the formation of mattei-. 

What to do. — In recent cases, before there is much inflammation, all 
that will be necessary to do will be to remove the shoe, cleanse the crack 
thoroughly, cutting into it if there is dirt or sand lodged inside, drawing 
the hoof together closely again, by the means of two thin clinch horse 
shoe nails, one at top and one at the bottom, and filling, with the follow- 
ing composition • 



1 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 461 

No. 197. K Ounce tallow, 

1 Ounce oil of turpentine, 
.2 Ounces resin, 
4 Ounces beeswax. 

Melt together, and fill the crack with it quite warm, and let it cool. 
The foot should be protected so no dirt can enter, and the horse turned 
to pasture until a new hoof is grown, placing a bar shoe on the in- 
jured hoof. 

If the crack is an older one, and there is inflammation, the edges must 
be pared and the fissure sufficiently laid bare so it may be thoroughly 
cleansed of all grit and dirt. The crack must then be thoroughly 
fomented to reduce the inflammation, and poulticed until it assumes a 
healthy appearance. The parts must then be brought firmly together by 
means of clinch nails ^ covered with ointment, No. 197; a bar shoe put 
on, and a new hoof allowed to grow. 

XI. False Quarter. 

This difficulty differs materially from sand crack, inasmuch as it is a 
deficiency in the growth of the horn of the hoof extending from the cor- 
onet to the sole. It is a gap in the Avail of the hoof rather than a crack. 

Causes. — It is produced from a deficient secretion of the horn making 
power, owing to previous quittor, frostbite or other injury to the coronet. 

What to do. — The principal means to be used is careful shoeing with 
a bar shoe. If the injury has been recent, stimulate the coronet with a 
mild blister, or if there is a wound, cut the edges with a knife and dress 
with weak carbolic acid water, to induce a healthy growth of horn. In 
old cases, all that can be done is to fill the fissure with gutta percha, and 
protect the weak hoof with a bar shoe. 

XII, Quittor. 

Causes. — This fistulous condition of the fibrous cartilage of the foot — 
inflamed, suppurating, penetrated by canals in various directions, with 
openings upon the quarters and heels of the coronet — is caused by pricks 
in shoeing, by threads, by suppurating corns or bruises, by neglected 
bad tread or over-reach, by neglected thrush, by irritation from sand- 
crack and false-quarters, by bruised sole that sometimes takes i:)lace when 
flat-footed horses are ridden over stony ground ; in short, bv any injury 
which leads to inflammation of the cartilage of the hoof and the forma- 
tion of pus inside. When the sensitive portion of the foot is pierced by 
a nail, or when inflammation has followed a bruise, suppuration speedily 



462 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

follows, and the accumulating matter presses in every direction, anCt, 
findino- no ready outlet, the little fleshy plates of the coffin bone are 
forced from the horny ones of the crust, or it may burrow between the 
horny and fleshy sole, and far towards the very central portion of the 
foot. Pipes and sinuses are then made in every direction ; but the outlet 
is generally by abscess of the coronet, or that portion of the hairy skin 
running immediately down upon the hoof. 

How to know it. — A recent wound or ordinary abscess of the coronet 
may be mistaken by the inexperienced for quittor, especially if any lame- 
ness attends it ; but a little examination will readily disclose the true 
nature of the case. From a simple wound, there is not apt to be a fetid 
discharge of so unwholesome a character as that which oozes from the 
sinuses of the quittor, and the parts nmst be more or less swollen, and 
yielding to pressure, whereas, in quittor, the surrounding tissue is hard, 
though it has taken on a peculiarly unhealthy action, and probing with 
the flexible probe, or bougie, will discover the presence of a sinus or of 
sinuses, of more or less depth. There is almost always lameness, which 
is sometimes excessive, and of a halting character : the coronet is some- 
what swelled into a ridge around the top of the hoof, and about the 
center of which one or more small orifices are found, that discharge in 
small quantities an offensive matter — sometimes rather thin and watery, 
ao;ain, thick and having a curdled appearance. The probe, as we have 
said, will disclose sinuses, and these generally tend downward into the 
foot. The quantity of matter discharged is often very small at first, so 
much so as to be out of all proportion to the very serious nature of the 
trouble, and the difficulty attending a cure. Even when the opening or 
openings will scarcely admit the small bougie, there may be much matter, 
and this may have penetrated under the cartilages and ligaments, and to 
the coffin-joint itself. Wherever it has gone, it has formed fistulous 
pipes, or ulcerations that are difficult to heal. There is usually increased 
heat, as well as much tenderness of the foot. 

What to do. — The first step is to discover, if possible, the cause ; and if 
this is still operating, to make every effort in 3'our power to remove it 
Sometimes there is such swelling around the hoof, and such excessive 
tenderness, that the animal cannot bear to have the foot handled except 
in the gentlest manner. In this case, apply a good softening and cooling 
poultice, and keep him as still as possible — renewing the poultice as 
often as it begins to grow dry and hot — ^until the inflammation is some- 
thing reduced, and the extreme tenderness overcome. Then, remove the 
shoe and withdraw every nail if it can be done. If the trouble has been 
caused by a nail, and the nail can be removed, there is already something 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 4G3 

of 11 dependent opening made by which the accumulated pus may escape, 
and this opening may l)e enlarged by farther paring away the hoof, so as 
to reach the softer [)art, that can be more readily cut with a keen knife. 

A small probe, or bougie, should be inserted from above, and worked 
to the lowest depth of the sinus. If this extends far towards the base of 
the foot, the prime object should be to get an opening from below to 
meet it, no matter what may have been the cause — whether a prick, a 
bruise, or irritation caused by other foot diseases. This dependent open- 
ing established and kept open, the pus will in time be evacuated, and the 
foot Avill return to its healthy state, unless the joints have been attacked, 
in which case a cure is scarcely to be hoped for. 

If the disease is of long standing, the internal surface of the sinus or 
sinuses has become more or less callous, and a stimulating lotion must be 
injected w^ith a syringe every day, comjDosed of one drachm chloride of 
zinc to one pint of water — increasing, the chloride gradually to two 
drachms. 

This treatment will suffice. The main trouble, however, is to make the 
dependent outlet. In case this cannot be done, owing to the shallowness 
of the sinuses from above, reduce the inflammation by poulticing, as pre- 
viously directed, and then inject this somewhat caustic solution into each 
channel or pipe : 

No. 198. 5 Grains bichloride of mercury, 

1 Ounce spirits of wine, 
20 Drops muriatic acid. 

Do this three times the first day, twice the second day, and once a day 
subsequently. When the discharge has ceased, stop the injection, and 
simply keep clean by the use of warm soap suds, used as necessary. 

If it is found impracticable to inject this solution into the openings, 
adopt this instead: Insert, by means of a wet probe, a lyixture of 
corrosive sublimate and flour (three parts of flour to one of corrosive 
sublimate). Persevere until you know that every part of the sinuses has 
felt the caustic. In two or three days thereafter they will begin to dis- 
charge a white, curd-like matter. It may be necessary to repeat this, 
but if thoroughly done, and there is no affection of the joints, a cure may 
be expected. 

Sometimes the trouble rises from a gravel having insinuated itself 
between the shoe and the sole, and creating a bruise or corn. This ma}^ 
be ascertained by removing the shoe and seeking for a spot unnatural in 
appearance, hot, and tender on the sole. If found, it ought to be pared 
down so as to reach the more sensitive part of the foot, and, if possible, 
to discover and liberate matter. 



464 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Ill making examinations preliminaiy to treatrapnt, the greatest care 
should always be exercised, as the treatment, to be successful, must be 
specially adapted to the exigencies of the case. It sometimes happens 
that the trouble is critical, and that only an experienced practitioner ought 
to be intrusted with it. When the probe indicates that the direction of 
the sinuses is backward, the chances are in favor of recovery ; but if it 
shows the direction to be forward, the important and complicated parts 
of the foot are in danger, and the result of even the best treatment is 
doubtful. 

In any event, a complete cure requires much time, and a more than 
ordinary exercise of patience and care. 

If the patient, in moving about, strikes the swollen parts above the 
fore-foot with the toe of the hind-foot, or if he hurts it in lying down, 
some steps ought to be taken to obviate these additional causes of irrita- 
tion and pain. 

If the general health of the animal is scrupuously attended to, it will 
materially assist in the management of the local disorder. 

XIII. Toe Crack. 

A hoof with crack in the toe should be treated precisely as though the 
difficulty occurred in another portion of the wall of the hoof. The diffi- 
culty in all cracks of the hoof, is the difficulty in healing, for the reason 
that w^hen the animal steps, especially on uneven ground, the walls are 
strained apart. In sand-cracks, the principal care must be to extirpate 
the grit and dirt, whatever the amount of paring and cutting it may take. 
If granulations appear, they must be cut out. Then wash with a solution 
of chloride of zinc, made as follows : 

No. 199. 1 Grain chloride of zinc, 

1 Ounce of water. 

Whatever the quantity made, let it be in this proportion. Cleanse the 
whole interior of the crack fully. In cutting away the hoof, it should 
present an oval shape when finished, the points at top and bottom. 

Having cleansed the inner portions, if the crack does not extend com- 
pletely from the coronet to the toe, Avith a firing iron, just hot enough to 
cause the horn to smoke, the iron not at a red, but at a black heat, soften 
the crust and continue the cutting until the diseased portion is all ex- 
posed. If granulations (proud flesh) show, cut it out and let the parts 
bleed. Then continue the application of the chloride of zinc lotion three 
times a day until a healthy reaction is produced. The crack may then 
be stopped with pitch or tar and tow, or gutta percha ; a bar shoe put 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 465 

on with two clips in front to hold the parts together, and the animal kept 
in a clean, soft pasture until a new hoof is grown. An examination of the 
parts being made from time to time to see that no grit or foreign sub- 
stance has entered to increase the diiBculty. 

Saad-cracks, quarter-cracks, and false-quarters, will require time to 
ensure full recovery, and the time so consumed should not be grudged. 

XIV. Pumice Foot. 

Pumice foot, the effect of chronic laminitis, is an excessive growth 
of soft, spongy horn in place of the healthy hoof, forming rings running 
together at the toe, causing a bulging at that point and a depression 
above This growth in front of the laminae of the toe separates the 
coffin bone from the wall of the hoof, and allows the bone to press upon 
the sole and even to pierce through it. Thus the sole becomes convex 
instead of concave, .the animal becoming groggy, and in time quite crip- 
pled. This state Is almost entirely confined to animals with flat feet and 
weak limbs, weak and brittle crusts to the feet, with large, prominent frogs. 

What to do. — In bad cases there can be no cure. Much may be done 
to alleviate distress, and enable the horse to do slow work, especially on 
the farm. Put on a thick, broad webbed bar shoe, a dished shoe having 
the web hollowed out, or beveled toward the inner side on the upper sur- 
face and thinned down from the toe to the heel. It is better that the 
shoe be also assisted with a bearing of leather next the sole. 

The hoof should be smeared daily with equal parts of glycerine and 
tar. If heated in slightly so much the better. The sole should also 
have the same application. Apply a mild blister to the coronet from 
time to time to stimulate action, and turn the horse into a soft, damp 
pasture. Thus in time a fairly smooth hoof may be grown, but it can 
never be expected to be entirely sound. 

XV. Seedy Toe. 

The wall of the foot is composed of two layers, the outer one darker, 
harder and thinner than the inside one ; the inner layer thicker, softer 
and lighter in color than the outer. The outside layer is secreted by the 
coronet, the inner one from the sensitive laminae. In health these are 
intimately united, forming the thick, tough, elastic hoof, capable of 
bearing the shocks of the body in traveling. 

Causes. — If from any cause, inherent weakness, undue shocks, disin- 
tegrating the laminae, or other cause, the separation begins at the toe, 
just as in the human nail the separation begins at the margin — it produ- 
ces seedy toe. 



406 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

How to know it. — If a seedy toe be struck with a hammer it will give 
a hollow sound, showing that it is disunited. Remove the shoe and a 
separation will be found between the two coats of the hoof. 

What to do. — Find the extent of the separation with a thin probe. Cut 
away such portions of the crust as may be disunited, and to where there 
is firm adhesion of the parts. If there is a powdery substance clean it 
out. Keep the cavity filled with warm tar, properly held in place, and 
shoe so as to give a uniform bearing, and support the weak part with a 
clip if necessary. This dressing must be repeated from time to time as 
required, until the cavity is entirely filled with a new and healthy growth. 

XVI. Ossified Cartilages. 

Ossification of the cartilages is sometimes called false ring-bone. It is 
a disease to which many horses are sometimes subject, and often exists 
in connection with ring-bone and side-bones. 

Causes. — Jarring, by hard driving over rough roads, or pounding on 
hard pavements, or any of the causes producing ring-bone or inflammation 
of the parts. 

How to know it. — ^When the difficulty is new, there may be fever in the 
parts. Later there will be more or less enlargement of the back of the 
coronet and the heel, the parts feeling hard, irregular or lumpy. The 
horse is not always lame, but if driven over hard roads, the horse will 
show soreness and travel short after cooling off. 

What to do. — In old standing cases, but little can be done ; rubbing 
the parts with oleate of mercury will reduce so much as is not already 
bony substance. In connection with this put in a seton under the af- 
fected part. In more recent cases, if there is heat, bleeding from the 
foot will give relief. Then apply cloths dipped in cold water to every 
quart of which has been added a half pint of tincture of arnica. The in- 
flammation being reduced, apply repeated dressings of biniodide of 
mercury. . This will promote absorption, but a complete cure may not 
be expected. 

XVII. Side Bones. 

Side-bones are ossifications from the heels of the coffin-bone into the 
lateral cartilages. In heavy horses, side-bones may occur in connection 
with ring-bones. In fact, ring-bone has its seat in the os suffraginis, and 
side-bone in the parts about ; the first being in the pastern ; the latter 
lower, or about the coffin-bone. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 467 

How to know it. — The enlargement is just above the coronet and im- 
mediately below, when ring-bone exists. Side-bone may be found at the 
back and lateral 2)arts of the coronet. There will be more or less sore- 
ness and lameness, but after ossification bony formation of the parts has 
been completed, the joint is either stiff or nearly so. 

What to do. — The treatment should be precisely identical with that 
prescribed for ring-bone. 

XVIII. Incised and Punctured Wounds of the Sole. 

Incised wounds are those made with a sharp instrument ; punctured 
ones are those made with a blunt one, as a nail. If the cut be a clean 
one, all that will be necessary to do will be to pare away the sides to be 
sure that no foreign substance is lodged there ; wash out with tincture of 
aloes and myrrh, and keep the wound closed wnth tar and tow, and give 
rest until healed. 

If the difficulty be from a nail, care must be taken that it is all ex- 
tracted. This must be done at W'hatever cost of cutting. Then dress as 
prescribed for the incised wound. In old cases, where suppuration has 
taken place, the matter must be let out by enlarging the orifice. Then 
the same means for cure may be adopted as in quittor or other matu- 
rated sores. 

30 



CHAPTER XV. 



WOUNDS AND INJURIES AND THEIR RESULTS. 



STRAINS AND SPRAINS. II. OVER-REACH. III. BRUSHING, OR SPEEDY CUT. IV. 

BROKEN KNEES. V. CAPPED ELBOW. VI. FROST BITE. VII. BURNS AND SCALDS. 

VIII. RUPTURE. — — IX. CHOKING. X. WOUNDS PENHTRATING THE ABDOMINAL 

CAVITY. XI. CONTUSED WOUNDS. XII. LACERATED WOUNDS. XIII. PUNCTURED 

WOUNDS. XIV. BROKEN HOCK. XV. DISLOCATIONS. XVI. VARIOUS FRACTURES- 

XVII. VARIOUS DISTORTIONS. XVill. DISEASES OF THE EAR. 



I. Strains and Sprains. 



In the human subject, a strain is simply a wrench, by which a fiber, a 
ligament or tendon is stretched beyond its proper capacity, and followed 
by pain, lameness, and inflammation of the parts. 

A sprain is an incomplete luxation (dislocation) in connection with 
stretching, with more or less laceration of the ligaments of a joint, and 
even rupture of the tendon. In veterinary practice the word strain is 
used. It is far more diificult to handle than in man, and for the reason 
that it is often difiicult to prevent an animal from using the parts. 

Replacement of the parts as near as may be, and rest, are the surest 
means of cure. Therefore in every case the intelligent horseman will 
use the best means to ensure this ; consequently it will be simply neces- 
sary to lay down certain rules of guidance to be followed. 

Straiii of a joint. ^In a joint that is easily flexed, (moved back and 

forth) the parts should be held firmly by means of a starch bandage, if 
there has been sufficient stretching to produce loss of continuity. 

How to make a starch bandage. — Provide a long strip of strong un- 
bleached muslin, and of a width proportioned to the part injured. Soak 
this in strong starch, and bind on while wet, making a half turn of the 
cloth in passing about the limb, so it will form a figure eight. Allow 

468 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 469 

this to dry without movement and it will hold the parts firm . If the strain 
occurs in the fetlock, hock, or knee, this will be indicated. For a lighter 
strain, a simple cold water bandage will suffice. 

In all strains, rest must be given, the diet should be light but whole- 
some, and if the bowels become costive, they must be stimulated to action| 
hy alterative medicines. Strains of the ligaments or nmscles nmst he 
met with cold water bandages. In all strains, however, dependence in 
the early stage must be upon arnica, equal parts of the tincture and rain 
water. Bathe the parts thoroughly and carefull}^ two or three times a 
day, and then apply the cold water bandage, keeping it wet. 

If the strain is in the shoulder or loin, hu' a wet blanket over the part 
affected, and cover with a dry one, changing as often as may be neces- 
sary. Sponge the affected parts with the diluted tincture of arnicti^ as 
before recommended. 

This, with rest, a light diet, keeping the bowels regular, and an ounce 
of cream of tartar to the bucket of water, ought to subdue any curable 
<;ase of strain. 

II. Over-reach. 

Causes- — A tired horse, especially when going at a fast pace, sometimes 
fails to lift the fore feet quick enough. The result is the inner part of 
the hind foot strikes the outer side of the coronet of the fore foot, or 
higher, often producing a severely lacerated or contused wound. 

What to do. — The only remedy is to clip the torn portions aAvay, and 
keep the parts washed with chloride of zinc, (No. 195), first cleansing the 
j)arts with water if at all dirty. The healing must take place through 
the sloughing of the torn parts, and by granulation. If slight, tincture 
of arnica will be sufficient as a lotion. Treads from calking may receive 
the same general treatment. 

III. Brushing, or Speedy Cut. 

This is a bruise, abrasion of the skin, or contused wound, produced by 
the shoe of one foot striking the opposite fetlock ankle, or even the knee. 
It is more owing to weakness than other causes, though a horse striking 
once is more liable to the same injury thereafter. It is really the foot 
that is resting on the ground that causes the hurt, from its being put 
down out of the proper line. 

What to do. — For horses of slow or moderate driving, the difficulty is 
confined to striking the ankle and below. The usual remedy is to cause 
the horse to set his foot in proper line by raising that side of the shoe, 
thus throwing the inside of the ankle slightly up. Any conmion sense 



470 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

blacksmith should know how to do it. For fast horses, the limbs must 
be further protected by means of pads and other appliances to be found 
at all saddlery establishments. 

IV. Broken Knees. 

This is a common disability of stumbling horses, and of saddle horses 
kept for riding, leaping, or hunting. A horse with the scars of broken 
knees should never be used as a saddle horse, unless it can be clearly 
shown that the hurt was done accidentally in leaping upon a foul landing 
place. 

What to do. — The first thing to do is to find the extent of the injury. 
It n.iay be that it is only a slight bruise with or without abrasion of the 
skin. In this case, using the tincture of arnica two or three times a day, 
and a cold water bandage, if there is heat, should ensure recovery. 

Sometimes, however, there is an ugly, lacerated wound filled with dirt 
and gravel. In this case the parts must be well washed by repeatedly 
fillino- u large sponge with clean, warm water, and squeezing it dry against 
the limb above the hurt. Never, under any circumstances, put it against 
the hurt. It only soils the sponge and ^Dresses the particles of dirt 
farther into the wound. If there is a sac below the cut contaiuing dirt 
it must be carefully probed, and opened from the bottom with a keen, 
sharp pointed knife. The object is that no grit may remain in the wound 
to prevent its healing. A seton should be tied so the sac may be emptied 
of its contents in the process of suppuration. If the granulations become 
soft and flabby, showing proud flesh, they must be touched with nitrate of 
silver. In three days after the establishment of suppuration the seton 
may be withdrawn. The" wounded parts must be kept wet with cold 
arnica water, the proper proportions being one ounce tincture of arnica 
to each pint of water used. 

Copious suppuration having been fairly established, discontinue the use 
of the arnica, and use instead the lotion made by dissolving in each 
ounce of water used a grain of chloride of zinc. Use no bandages. 
Cleanliness of the parts is necessary. These means should carry the 
knee to a favorable issue. 

Sometimes, however, the injury is so severe that the ligaments and 
even the joint is injured. It then becomes a most serious case. In this 
event the animal must be put into slings, the joint brought together, after 
being thorougly cleansed as before stated, the parts must be bandaged 
and astringent washes used to promote the uniting of the parts, while the 
same general treatment is pursued with the laceration as advised before. 
In case the injury be so severe as to involve the joint, if a veterinary 



THE HOUSE, ITS DISEASES. 471 

surgeon cannot be had with proper appliances for caring for the horse' he 
had better be killed at once. 

Besides injury to the knee by falling, it is sometimes injured by having 
some sharp sul)stance driven forcibly into the ligaments or even between 
the joints. These should be carefully looked for and removed, since old 
running sores, fistulas and other disabilities may result, eompletel}'^ des- 
troying the usefulness of the animal. Joints other than the knee ma}' be 
similarly injured. If so, the general treatment should be the same. 
First reduce the inflammation, and then use means for cure. In ordinary 
cases, as a healing agent, in wounds, either lacerated or contused, we 
have never found anything better for promoting healthy granulation or 
•\ealing of the parts than a free use of tincture of aloes and myrrh. 

V. Capped Elbow. 

Causes. — This tumor at the back point of the elbow is generally caused 
by a bruise inflicted by the calkings of the shoe while the horse has slept 
with his legs dyubled up under him. Inflanmiation of the sub-cellular 
tissue is established, and that condition sets in wdiich gives rise to enlarge- 
ments by increased deposit near the part. The tumor is circumscribed, 
being confined to the elbow, but it sometimes groAvs to an enormous size, 
and hangs loosely from the back point of the elbow, and interferes with 
its action. 

It may be produced also by long heels, as well as calkins, b}^ striking 
WAtli the shod hind foot, by a blow, and by lying on uneven surfaces. 

How to know it. — A slight swelling of the point of the elbow^ is first 
perceived, and unless the cause is removed this will graduall}-^ develop 
into a large-sized tumor. When of any considerable size, it w\\\ contain 
serum, or a watery matter, and has a fluctuating feeling to the fingers. 
This fluid is contained in tough, fibrous Avails, and may remain for a long 
time, or it ma}'^ at last be absorbed, and leave a hard tumor. At this 
stage there will of course be no fluctuation. 

What to do. — If discovered in its early stage, and serum is evidently 
present, let it out by opening the sac at the lower edge with a keen knife, 
or a thumb lancet. Press upon it so as thoroughly to remove the fluid. 
Then, with a small rubber syringe, inject a mixture of equal parts of 
pyroligneous acid and water. Next, moisten it externally, morning and 
night, with the camphorated corrosive sublimate. No. 2, which will have 
the better effect if dried in at once with a hot iron held near. Before 
the horse is allowed to lie down again, make a soft pad, covered with 
chamois skin, without a seam on the outer side, of such thickness as to 
keep the shoe from striking the elbow when the leg is doubled under him, 



472 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and tie it securely round the pastern. This should be on every night j 
and even after cure is effected it will be necessary for the animal to wear 
this pad, to prevent recurrence of the bruise, or else to have the shoe 
shortened. The pad must be at least two and a half inches thick. 

If it is in its new state (a simple swelling without matter), it can be 
assuaged by using frequently, at moderate intervals, some cooling lotion. 

If large, watery, somewhat pendant, and unsightly, have an exper- 
ienced surgeon remove it entirely ; and then dress as an ordinary wound. 

If, after it has been opened, and the fluid pressed out, it heals with 
hard substance left behind, rub frequently with acetate of mercury 
until the natural state is restored. 

If treatment is undertaken only when there is no watery matter, no 
fluctuation, remove it absolutely by making a vertical slit, of suflicient 
length, and dissect the lump ; after which treat the w^ound with simple 
cerate, or any healing ointment. 

Care must always be taken to guard against having the elbow injured 
again while treatment is going on, and to prevent rebruising the part 
after cure is effected. 

If there is constipation or otherwise feverish tendency in the animal, 
the cure of tumors or other local troubles will alwavs be more diflicult 
unless this tendency is removed by suitable purgatives and carefully reg- 
ulated diet. 

VI. Frost Bite. 

Injury from the effects of frost is more common in the North and 
West than is generally supposed, and in many cases rheumatism, founder 
and other "stiff complaints" may undoubtedly be attributed to this as the 
predisposing cause. 

Causes. — Long exposure to cold, either standing in the open air or 
confined in cold stables ; standing in half melted snow and slush ; keep- 
ino- young animals in exposed yards, where they cannot take exercise and 
with insufficient food. 

How to know it. — The skin of the injured parts in light cases, turns 
purple, inflames, cracks and exudes a bloody serum ; or if severe, the 
skin and tissues beneath lose color, and become dead and eventually 
shrivel. The skin, particularly of the heel, will crack, often from one 
side to the other, refusing to heal. 

What to do- — If the limbs are simply chilled, friction will be all that 
is necessary. If actually frozen, the animal should be warmly clothed 
and the frozen parts be rubbed with snow until circulation is partly re- 
stored. Then put the parts in cold water and continue rubbing until 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 473 

warmth and circulation are entirely restored. Then dry thoroughly with 
cloths and hard rubbing. 

If the frosting has been neglected and raw sores make their appear- 
ance, prepare the following : 

No. 200. 2 Drachma belladonna, 

1 Ounce petroleum, 
1 Ounce lard. 

Rub the whole thoroughly together, and apply twice a day to the raw 
or ulcerated places. If this does not promote recovery, and decided ul- 
cers occur, add to the above prescription 2 ounces red oxide of mercury. 
Rub all well together and apply once a day to the ulcerous parts. 

VII. Burns and Scalds. 

Burns and scalds seldom occur in horses kept on the farm or employed 
on the road. They are, however, of frequent occurrence when horses 
are employed about mills or factories where steam is used ; or in iron 
founderies and* in cities. 

What to do. — One of the best and most easily obtained applications, 
for a fresh burn or scald, is to dredge bicarbonate of soda, common 
baking soda, thickly on the part, or moisten with water into a thick paste 
and bind it or lay it over the hijury. For slight burns, which sometimes 
cover a large surface, there is nothing better than several coats of thick 
white lead paint laid on with a brush, cover the whole with cotton and 
bind on close. 

Strong alum water is also an excellent remedy for fresh burns and 
scalds, the proportions being 2 ounces of powdered alum to each pint of 
rain-water. Keep the parts w^ell soaked with it, and wet cloths saturated 
with the same constantly over the surface. 

Sometimes indolent sores follow burns and scalds. If so, the ulcers 
should be well and carefully washed with tar water, and the following 
mixture dusted over the parts : 

No. 201. 1 Ounce oxide ol zinc, 

2 Ounces powdered starch. 

Mix intimately and dredge on thickly to form a crust. Wherever the 
moisture appears through, keep adding the mixture until the crust be- 
comes permanent and fixed. 

VIII. Rupture. 

Rupture or burst (Hernia) is the displacement of an internal organ 



474 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

through an opening, either natural or otherwise. The rupture most com 
monly seen is of the bowels and omentum. The omentum is the 
membranous covering of the bowels or the caul. The bowels may pass 
throuo'h the caul by rupture, or the bowels and involved caul may, it is 
possible, pass through the mesentary, the membrane retaining the intes- 
tines in their proper position. 

If the rupture is into the chest, it is called diaphramatic, and may 
occur from a violent shock, as in leaping, or in 'bucking, 'as jumping stiff- 
leo-o-ed is called. In bad cases death is sudden from suffocation. In 

Get 

the slight forms there may only be difficulty of breathing, with lifting of 
the flanks, as observed in heaves. The only remedial means to be used 
are to give anodynes and rest. Thus slight cases may at length take on 
the chronic form, but will never be cured. 

Hernia of the mesentary and omentum is difficult to know, and no 
remedy can avail, except rest, with anodynes if there is pain. 

Naval rupture, and that through the scrotum, is most common. The 
only means of cure in naval rupture is where pressure can be had by 
means of a bandage or truss and taken in the earlier stages. The intestine 
must first be carefully pressed back and pressure made over the parts by 
means of a soft pad, securely fastened, and to be worn until the orifice is 
closed or at least permanently contracted. Of course an animal "Avith 
rupture of any part is not capable of violent exertion. 

Rupture of the scrotum is also common in males. In cases of colic in 
entire animals, an examination should be made for scrotal rupture, since 
there may be colickey symptom's. There may be a swelling of the bag 
containing the testicle, the contents being movable, and disappearing up- 
on pressure. In the smaller animals, castration may be employed, the 
gut returned and the Avound sewed up. 

Ventral hernia is known by the contents being movable and gurgling, 
and easily pressed back to their place. If recent, the animal should be 
thrown on its back, using ether or chloral to keep quiet, returning the 
protrusion, padding the orifice, and covering with strong factory muslin 
wound round the abdomen and laced along the back, the bandage being 
kept in place by bands fastened in front and carried to a collar worn on 
the neck. Except in the case of valuable animals, treatment scarcely 
pays, unless a veterinarian can be employed who understands anatomy. 

IX. Choking. 

Choking occurs in two distinct forms. The high choke, when the sub- 
stance is lodged in the throat or neck ; and the low choke, when the sub- 
stance .s lodged in that part of the gullet lying low down within the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 475 

chest. In high choke, the animal may die in a few minutes ; in low 
choke, there is not such special need of haste. 

How to know it. — There is intense distress ; the head is raised ; there 
is slavering, violent coughing and continual efforts to swallow. 

What to do. — Examine carefully the furrow on the left side of the 
neck for the substance. If solid, endeavor to precis it upwards with the 
fingers on each side. If not', endeavor to extract it by putting a balling iron 
into the mouth to hold it open ; pull out the tongue ; pass the hand into 
the throat and endeavor to dislodge it with the finger, the head being held 
out in a straight line with the neck. If this do not succeed, and the 
obstruction is in the gullet and is clear of the windpipe, procure a probang, 
oil it thoroughly, cast the horse, put the balling iron in the mouth, intro- 
duce the probang and by steady pressure for a feAV seconds at a time, 
endeavor to move it. If it moves continue the pressure until it is pushed 
into the stomach. 

If the substance is so firmly held that the probang will not move it, the 
mass must be cut down upon and taken out. Let an assistant press the off 
side of the neck to get as much bulge as possible. Then with a bold cut 
of a sharp knife, cut through skin, tissues and gullet, to the mass, with 
an ample cut, and remove ; bring the edges of the gullet together, stitch 
them with fine catgut, or strong silk, and then the wound in the skin. The 
difiiculty here may cause subsequent stricture of the gullet, which may 
thereafter prevent the animal swallowing solid food. In any event only 
semi-liquid food should be given for ten days after choking, or until the 
animal seems well. 

In desperate cases, where there is instant danger of death from choking, 
tracheotomy must be employed. This is cutting into the windpipe and 
inserting a breathing tube and will be treated in its appropriate place. 

The Low Choke. — This is where the obstruction is low in the gullet, 
or in the thoracic portion of the sesophagus. 

In this form there is great distress but the head is not held so high ;, 
saliva runs from the moutli, and the discharge is copious from the nose ; 
if the animal attempts to drink, the water is cast forth from the nose ; the 
breathing is laborious, the flanks tucked up, the back roached, and the 
animal shows sj'^mptoms of general distress. 

What to do. — Give a gill of linseed oil or lard oil once an hour, and 
between these doses every hour the following anti-spasmodic ; 

No. 202. 2 Ounces sulphuric ether, 

2 Ounces laudanum, 
}i Pint water. 

Use the probang carefully after each anti-spasmodic. If the whole of 



476 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the dose is apparently returned, administer chloroform from a sponge, by 
inhalation, until entire insensibility is produced. Then extend the head, 
insert the probang, well oiled, and use steady but constant pressure, 
until the substance moves. It may take ten to fifteen minutes, or more. 
When the substance moves do not use much violent pressure, but move 
it carefully until it enters the stomach, care being taken not to force the 
instrument too far and thus wound that organ, remembering always that 
sudden violence may bring on spasmodic action, in which case efforts 
must cease. Violence may also rupture the gesophagus. 




TIIK LOW CIIUKB 



X. Wounds Penetrating the Abdominal Cavity. 

A penetrating wound of the walls of the abdomen is generally followed 
by protrusion of the bowels. Sometimes it is so extensive as to allow 
a large portion of the intestines to escape. If so, they sliould be sup- 
ported by a sheet fastened over the back to prevent injury by the feet 
and the admission of dirt until relief is given. 

What to do- — The horse should be cast, the bowels washed with tepid 
water, the horse turned partly on his back, the intestiites properly returned 
to their place by pressure, and the wound sewed up with catgut, well soaked 
in warm oil, and at intervals of an inch apart, bringing the edges nicely 
together. Then encircle the belly with a strong bandage properly fas- 
tened, by being laced along the back. Empty the rectum, if necessary, 
by means of injections of warm water or soap suds, and keep the bowels 
open by feeding scalded shorts pretty well salted. 

XI. Contused "Wounds. 
A contused wound is one occasioned by injury from some blunt instru- 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 477 

merit, as a hook, wagon shaft, or other similar medium. They of tea 
leave a gaping wound with torn and bruised edges. 

What lo do. — Clip away all torn and bruised flesh that present ragged 
edges. If the injury is not extensive all that will be necessary will be to 
keep the bowels of the animal in health, and moderately loose, with bran 
mashes, using the following lotion daily. This is known as the compound 
tincture of aloes and myrrh and should be kept in every stable as a 
dressing for wounds, galls and other injuries of that nature. It is made 
as follows : 

No. 203. 4 Ounces myrrh, 

4 Ounces benzoin, 
4 Ounces of catechu, 
8 Ounces i)ulverized aloes, 
1 Gallon Jiimaicu rum. 

Mix, keep in a warm place for two weeks, frequently shaking it, and 
filter through linen. If the wound assumes an unhealthy character, wash 
with water in which a little carbolic acid is mixed. When granulations 
appear, if pus, matter, forms, wash daily with a syringe and warm water, 
and use the carl)olic acid wash for dressing, or, if the wound is in such 
a place that it may be done, cover with tow saturated with the wash. If 
the granulations are soft, flabb}^ and projecting, showing proud flesh, 
touch them with a stick of lunar caustic, and expose to the air until dry. 
Then dress as before directed. 

XII. Lacerated Wounds. 

A lacerated wound is a torn wound. The wound by treading, calking,is 
a lacerated wound. The tearing up of the skin and sub-cellular tissues, 
leaving a flap, is a lacerated wound. 

What to do. — In any wound, if feverish symptoms occur, give an ounce 
of pulverized saltpeter in the drink night and morning, and administer a 
moderate purge, unless the bowels are open, say 4 ounces of aloes. 

In the case of any lacerated M'ound, if extensive, clip aw^ay all torn 
shreds, bring the edges nicely together and scav them with fine catgut, or 
white Avaxed silk, and let the subsequent treatment be as directed for 
other wounds. 

XIII. Punctured Wound. 

A nail, the point of a fork, a splinter of wood, a thorn, or any similar 
substance, makes a punctured wound. They are the most dangerous of 
wounds, from danger of internal poisoning, or fistula, lockjaw, etc. 



478 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



What to do. — First, examine carefully by means of a probe for any 
foreign subst.mce lodged inside. If so, remove it, even if a clean cut 
has to be made. A clean cut is not dangerous unless an artery is sev- 
ered. If the instrument inflicting the wound vv^as dirty or rusty, syringe 
the wound thoroughly with weak carbolic water. If the wound heals 
kindly, use the tincture of myrrh dressing, No. 203. If inflammation 
sets in, and matter forms in a deep, narrow wound, it may be necessary 
to enlarge the opening to let out the pus. Then treat as directed for 
contused or lacerated wounds. 




MANNER OF USING SETON NEEDLE. 



XIV. Broken Hock. 

This is a term applied to a severe injury — 
breaking the cap of the hock. The only treat- 
ment is absolute rest, the application of sedatives 
as lotions, laudanum equal parts with water, to 
remove pain, and astringents — white oak bark. 
It is sometimes necessarj^ to blister near the 
part to get up counter irritation, or put in a sc- 
ton below the hurt. The mode of using a fixed 
seton needle, to bring a wound together, in 
sewing, where a proper crooked, flat needle is 
not at hand, is here shown. It will also serve 
to show the manner of using a needle for a se- 
ton, to be threaded with white tape. 

XV. Dislocations. 



Dislocations in the horse are rare, and when they occur are difficult to 
manage, except with the aid of a veterinary surgeon. Dislocation of the 
lower joints, and of the hip, is most common, from catching the foot, 
twisting and pulling thereon to get free. In fact, dislocation of the hip 
is scarcely ever seen except in connection with fracture, but is sometimes 
met with in lean, under-fed, young cattle and horses. Dislocation of the 
shoulder is most seldom met with. 

What to do. — In any case of dislocation the first thing to do is to put 
the joint in place, not always an easy matter. The means we have indi- 
cated for dislocation of the stifle will serve to show the manner of 
operation. A veterinary surgeon should be employed if possible in any 
case of dislocation. If such cannot be had, any humane surgeon should 
be willing to give advice as to how to operate. The means to be employed 
are so different, varying with each particular case, that it would be im- 
possible to state them except in a general way. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 479 

If inflammation and considerable swelling has set in before the hurt is 
discovered this must be first reduced by cold water ai:)plications, or better, 
hot water fomentations, if persistently applied. Then the joint must be 
brought to place by traction and force. If there is no inflammation this 
will not be difficult. 

When a starch bandage may be employed, this should always be used 
to hold the parts together. If not the dislocation must be splintered or 
padded, or both, to keep the parts intact and in place. The slings should 
always be employed to rest the horse when they may be had. This with 
cooling lotions to subdue inflammation, rest, proper care and feeding, 
will ensure recovery in the end. A bad dislocation, however, usually 
leaves the horse out of condition for anything but farm or slow work. 

XVI. Various Fractures. 

To fracture a limb completely, so the leg hangs loose, is of so serious 
a nature, in the horse, that unless in the case of a very valuable animal 
for breeding purposes it had better be killed at once. In very many 
cases, however, one of the bones of the leg is fractured or split part way, 
though the horse may not exhibit extreme pain, may even travel upon it. 
Softening, however, sets in, and sometime after, in getting up in the 
stable, the bone gives way entirely. So the fibula, as the smaller bone of 
the leg is called, may be fractured. If there is lameness after falling in 
harness, or from a blow, with tenderness, it is safe to treat for fracture. 

What to do. — Place the horse in the slings and splinter the limb, first 
having applied a starch bandage, when it may be made to act. All that 
will be necessar}^ further will be to feed and water regularly, keep the 
bowels naturalh' open, reduce inflammation and soreness by the use of 
arnica, and trust to time for a cure. A month or six weeks ought to so 
strengthen the bone that the animal can eat grass, or be fed in a box 
stall until recovery is perfected. 

XVII. Various Distortions. 

A distortion arising from fracture or from any chronic difficulty cannot 
be cured. In case of severe recent strain of the ligayients of the neck, 
by which the head is thrown to one side, and held so, the neck should be 
brought straight, splintered, and held so until the ligaments recover their 
normal tone. * Poll evil often leaves the animal with a stiff neck, pro- 
ducing a distorted manner of holding the head. Distortions are often 
produced by injuries of various kinds. These must be attended to during 
the cure of the superinducing cause. Distortions often occur in young 
animals, as knuckling, turning the fetlocks from weakness, etc. The 



4S0 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

remedy is starch bandages and splints. Distortions of the tail by whicVj 
it is curved awry, are remedied by wholly or partially severing the ten- 
dons which are constricted or drawn. This, however, should never be 
attempted by one who does not understand the anatomy of the parts, 
else mischief may be done. As a rule, however, any distortion, except it 
be old and chronic, may be cured by taking proper measures, splintering, 
bandao-ino-, and the use of fomentations where relaxation is necessary. 
These means the intelligence of the operator will readily suggest. 

XVIII. Diseases of the Ear. 

Causes. — Injuries to the ear are generally caused by brutal treatment. 
Twitching them, nipping and pulling upon them with the blacksmith's 
plyers, and blows upon the head with cudgels, sometimes result in 
troublesome bruises, ulcers and tumors that close the auditory passage. 

Deafness may be an organic defect, or it may be the effect of some 
disease which has disordered the head, and, by sympathy, the auditory 
nerve ; and the sense of hearing is no doubt dulled by old age, even 
when the horse may have been well used and reasonably free from dis- 
ease ; but it results in most cases from pulling the ears, cutting or clip- 
ping either them or the surrounding skin to remedy supposed defects, 
and from beating upon the head. 

Sometimes scabby or mangy eruptions make their appearance upon the 
tips of the ears and spread downward, covering them entirely; but this 
is most probably the accompaniment of some general skin disease. 

How to know it. — The cuts, breaks in the skin, or sutures, that result 
from pulling, pinching, and twitching are readily discernible, as are also 
the ulcers or suppurating sores in which they sometimes end. When the 
tendons which sustain the ear in its upright position are broken, there is 
no difficulty in perceiving it, as the ear drops down and flaps about with 
the motions of the head and neck. 

Running sores, similar to the poll-evil, sometimes result; but these 
may be distinguished from that disease by their being confined more 
closely to the ear, either inside or out. 

When deafness jp suspected, an examination of the internal ear will 
be necessary ; and if the swollen parts or ulcers are not perceptible, some 
artifice must be resorted to to find whether the hearing is actually de- 
stroyed. Deafness may be only temporary, as is sometimes the case 
with man, and the matter can be decided only by making a series of 
examinations. 

What to do. — A simple laceration of the skin, and even of the cartilage, 
if small, will require no special attention ; but if it is so great that the 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 481 

edges do not come in contact, they must be brought together and sewed, 
after which the trouble will soon be over. 

But it occasionally happens that ulceration of the skin and cellular tis- 
sue and a rotting away of the cartilage sets in. This is past all remedy, 
and necessitates the cutting away of the ear. 

When there has been no laceration of the skin, and a tumor is forming, 
apply camphorated corrosive sublimate. No. 2, occasional I3', till it en- 
tirely subsides ; but if matter seems already forming, apply May-apple 
liniment, made by taking one gallon of May-apple roots and boiling them 
until a thick syrup is formed ; then, having removed the roots, adding as 
much lard as there is syrup, and stirring Avell together Avhile the syrup is 
still boiling. This liniment will draw out the fever and bring the matter 
speedily to the surface. 

Sometimes an abscess forms on the outside, which will need lancing in 
order to afford the most speedy relief. In this case, cut at the lower 
extremity of the rising, and let the lancet slant upward into it. 

Deafness, unless simj^lj^ a temporary result of some prevailing disorder 
of the head or neck, is beyond the art of the veterinary practitioner. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



POISONING. 



I. INTERNAL POISON. 



-II. rOISONIXQ FROM STINGS. III. POISONED SKIN. 



I. Internal Poisoning. 

The cases of internal poisoning are more frequent, especially "with 
horses, than is generally supposed. Among the most common are those 
arising from drastic or powerful doses, blindly given by the ignorant, 
cither in disease, or from some effect sought to be produced upon the 
general health — to make the coat blooming, cause champing of the bit 
and frothing at the mouth, or to excite the animal spirits. Of these, 
strong purgatives, diuretics and arsenic are the most common. 




A HORSE SUFFEUING FROM DRASTIC POISON. 



Other causes are from eating poisonous plants, either in the hay or in 
the pasture, the ergot of rye and other grain ; ergot sometimes attacks the 



482 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 483 

grasses — thus, smutty grain, castor beans, hellebore or poke root, laurel, 
stramonium or Jamestown weed, and cured tobacco, among plants, may 
be mentioned as common. Among minerals, sulphuric, nitric and 
muriatic acid, and all the concentrated vegetable acids are caustic and 
irritant poisons. They are never taken unless forced down. The anti- 
dote to these is large doses of powdered chalk, whiting or lime water. 
In the absence of these give weak lye (white l3^e) until relief is obtained 
and follow Avith a full dose of linseed oil. 

Alkalies destroy the tissues. If quick lime, caustic potash, strong lye 
or washing soda has been taken give vinegar and water to neutralize it. 
and follow with a dose of oil. 

Horses that are dosed with whisky to "give them strength" sometimes 
show alcoholic poisoning. Never give it except as a stimulant as advised 
for disease. 

Forty grains of arsenic will kill a horse. The symptoms are, intense 
thirst, quick, feeble pulse, great pain in the boAvels, with purging some- 
times, irregular breathing, faintness, paralysis, convulsions and death. 
Give full doses of oil, in which is mixed two, three or four spoonfuls of 
carbonate of iron as the case may seem to demand. 

Corrosive sublimate is a fatal poison. A quarter of an ounce will kill 
a horse. The symptoms are violent pain, intense thirst, effusion, an<i 
bloody discharges from the bowels, trembling, salivation, ending in stupor 
and death. Give the whites of a dozen eggs, stirred in a little Avarm 
water. FoIIoav this Avith linseed tea, or better Avith mucilage of slippery 
elm. Litharge and sugar of lead are poisonous. The symptoms are 
staring coat, arched back, a protruding tongue and foaming at the mouth, 
fitaggoring, and sometimes dashing Avildly to and fro. Give large doses 
of purgatives to be folloAved by from one to two ounces of iodide of 
potash daily for seven or eight daj^s. 

Strychnine is a quick and potent poison. Eight to ten grains Avill 
ahvays kill. The symptoms arc A'iolent trembling succeeded by stiffness 
and jerking of the limbs, spasms, rigid limbs, arched back, difficult respi- 
ration, succeeded by interA^als of quiet; but Avhich are again brought on 
by a slight noise or even a touch. Soon the animal dies. Keep the 
animal quiet and in a dark, place, and give a quart of SAveet oil or linseed 
oil. FolloAV AAath powdered charcoal mixed Avith thin mucilage. Move 
the boAvels by means of injections as quickly as j^ossiblc, and if exhaustion 
ensues give stimulants (Avhisk}') freely. 

Tartar emetic in doses of tAvo to four ounces Avill sometimes kill a 
horse. The symptoms are, thirst, vomiting and purging, staggering, 
colic, salivation, convulsions and paralysis. 

Give strong tea, followed as soon as you can get it, Avith a decoction 
31 



484 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of white oak bark. For the vomiting and purging, if they continue, give 
ounce doses of laudanum in a little water. 

Poisoning from aloes, castor oil or croton beans, known by excessive 
bloody purging, and straining, cold ears and legs, hot, dry mouth, and 
bloatino-. Give two ounces of laudanum in a quart of linseed tea, and if 
necessary give a like dose by injection. 

In poisoning from ergot or other diseased and injured foods, give full 
doses of linseed oil, both by the mouth and as injections, with stimuhints 
afterwards ; and tonics, say eight grains of quinine three times a day 
during recovery. 

For poisoning by white hellebore or Indian poke, give whisky in pint 
doses. The same means may be used in poisoning by laurtl, followed 
by injections of salt and water, and also by linseed oil given as a purge. 
Ill case of poisoning by opium or laudanum, pour cold water on the head 
from a considerable height, and keep the animal in constant motion. For 
poisoning with Jamestown weed (jimson) known by faintness, giddiness, 
followed by convulsions, paralysis and stupor, give ^ quart of linseed oil 
with two ounces of laudanum . Give also an injection and subsequently 
stimulate with pint doses of whisky. 

Tobacco poisoning is shown by purging, offensive dung, colic pains, 
weak pulse, prostration, convulsions and stupor. Give a purge of oil, 
and follow with pint doses of whisky in slippery elm or linseed tea. 

n. Poisoning from Stings. 

It is not infrequent that animals are badly stung, or bitten by venomous 
serpents or insects. 

For the stings of insects, as wasps, hornets and bees, wash the stings 
repeatedly with onion juice, or ammonia three parts to one part of oil. 
Washing with salt and water is also an excellent remedy. 

In some portions of the West and especially in the South, gnats and 
certain species of venomous flies come in Summer. The remedy against 
this is to use petroleum. When these insects are very bad it is usual to 
smear the unprotected parts of the animal's body with a mixture com- 
])osed of one part of tar to two parts of lard. We prefer equal parts of 
])etroleum, lard oil, and tar. Bacon drippings may be substituted for the 
lard oil or lard. For the stings of centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas and 
other venomous spiders, give the following: 

No. 208. 1 Tea-spoonful of ammonia, 

1 Pint of whisky, 
^ Pint of warm water. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. • 485 

Wash the bitten part with ammonia fi:equeutly, and keep it soaked 
therewith by means of a sponge. 

Bites by venomous serpents are to be treated in the same way. The 
wound should be well cauterized when first discovered with an iron at 
a white heat. The doses of whisky we have given are full ones. One 
half this quantity of proof spirits given every hour with a little ammonia 
until relief is obtained will be proper, but in bad cases give the full dose 
as a first one, and always with water. 

III. Poisoned Skin. 

There are many weeds and plants that sometimes cause irritation and 
poisoning of the skin. The means of cure is to move the bowels and 
apply some soothing wash to the irritated parts. For injury from poison 
oak, poison ivy, hemlock, St. John's wort, etc., wash with a decoction of 
golden seal three times a day, oiling the surface at night. In the morn- 
ing wash away the oil with soap and warm water, and use the golden seal 
again. A solution of sugar of lead is also a specific for vegetable poison- 
ing of the skin. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



VETERINARY SURGERY. 



I. CASTRATION. 11. BLEEDING. III. TRACHEOTOMY. IV. PERIOSTEOTOMY. V. NEU- 
ROTOMY, VI. DIVISION OF THE TENDONS. 



General Reiviarks on Surgery. — Every person who has the care of 
farm stock, or who has the care of horses, should understand some of 
the snnpler means used in veterinary surgery. The castration of animals, 
for instance, is exceedingly easy and safe if a few simple rules are ob- 
served. If done in a bungling or improper manner, the chances, except 
in the case of very young animals, are against recovery. Bleeding is 
sometimes absolutely necessary to save life. When necessary it should 
be promptly performed. Tracheotomy, also, as cutting into the windpipe 
is called, must sometimes be performed before a surgeon could possibly 
reach the animal. Periosteotomy, as operating upon the membrane of the 
bones of the leg is called, had better be left to the veterinary surgeon 
entirely; so again, neurotomy, the division of the nerve which supplies 
the hoof of the fore leg with sensation, had also better be left to the 
surgeon. In all division of tendons, fractured limbs and various disabil- 
ities to which animals are subject, every horseman ought to know what 
to do. The diseases of animals have been pretty thoroughly treated of 
in this work. Some of the operations of surgery must therefore receive 
the attention their importance deserves. 

I. Castration. 

Calves, lambs and pigs should be castrated when quite young, always 
before the sixth week of their life. Lambs and pigs should be castrated 
at from one to two weeks old. Colts are not usually castrated until one 
year old, since thus they retain more of the natural vigor and style of 
the entire horse. 
486 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 487 

In the case of colts and old horses the structures are tough and the 
cords strong, consequently clamps (grooved sticks) so twmed together at 
one end that when pressed together and tied firmly the cord will be held 
so tight that circulation is entirely stopped are generally used. 

How to do it. — Cast the colt or horse and fasten him securely, having 
everything ready, a keen, round-pointed knife, clamps and cords. Seize 
the scrotum making a clean cut through the integuments and well into the 
testicle, and in a line so the cut shall be parallel to the median line, or 
line dividing tne scrotum. Clean the envelop of the testicle, leaving it as 
near intact as possible, as the envelop must remain with the animal. Draw 
the testicle out, put a clamp on the cord and seizing the other end of the 
clamp with a pair of pincers press it strongly together, and tie securely 
with a waxed thread. So proceed with the other side. The horse may 
then be allowed to get up. In thirty-six to forty-eight hours, the sticks 
are to be removed by cutting the strings. . 

Another mode, and a most excellent one, especially in the case of colts, 
is after freeing the testicle of its envelop and exposing the cord, to seize 
the artery beyond where it is to be secured, with a pair of pincers made 
for the purpose, cut the cord and twist the arter}^ seven or eight times ; 
let go, and with its retractive force it will retahi the twist and prevent all 
bleeding. Another way is to tie the artery and allow^ the ends of the 
strings to hang out of the orifice. The plan by torsion, twisting by the 
pincers, is the plan to be preferred. 

In castrating, do not be afraid to make an extensive cut, and do not 
leave the cord too long, else it may be strangulated, and fever and infla- 
mation ensue. If this should unliappily occur, enlarge the opening and 
push up the cord. If there is formation of matter, hasten it by foment- 
ation with warm water. When a free exudation of cream-like matter is 
established, the animal will go on to recovery as granulation progresses. 
AVash the parts daily with tincture of aloes and myrrh. If, however, 
the Avork has been properly done, the animal will suffer little inconveni- 
ence, and nothing more need be done. 

The best time for castrating colts and horses is from the middle of 
May to the first of June, in the North, and in the South about the time 
the young grass is a full bite. 

II. Bleeding. 

There are cases where bleeding must be resorted to to save life. These 
are bra'm disorders and some forms of inflammatory disease. The jugu- 
lar vein is the one to be bled from, and when the object is to deplete the 
sj^stem, six, seven, and even eight quarts should be taken. Always catch 
the blood in a vessel, as it is neccessary to know how much we take. 



488 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

By pressing on the jugular vein along the neck, below the spot select- 
ed for the incision, it will soon rise up prominently. In bleeding, always 
make the incision in the line of the vein, never across it. Make the in- 
cision large, but never through both walls of the vein. When sufficient 
blood has been taken, raise the lips of the vein between the lingers, thrust 
a pin through and wind some thread dipped in the blood about it to 
hold it. 

In staggers and diseases of the brain, it is usual to bleed in the roof of 
the mouth. 

Whenever a horse is to be bled, it is better to blindfold him, since it 
prevents his starting, and thus causing a miss with the lancet or fleam in 
the hands of an inexpert person. 

m. Tracheotomy. 

The operation of tracheotomy consists in cutting down into the wind- 
pipe, in all desperate cases where the animal is likely to suffocate for 
want of breath. In bad cases of strangles, or other obstruction to breath- 
ino-. it is sometimes necessary to save the life of the animal, and there is 
no time to wait for a surgeon. 

How to do it. — Have an assistant hold the horse's head high, with the 
nose extended, so as to best stretch the skin of the neck. Then feeling 
along the neck for that part least covered with flesh, make a bold in- 
cision with a sharp knife — one with a round point, and thin, being prefer- 
able. Make the incision about four inches long, and along the central line 
of the windpipe, and down to it. Then with a sharp-pointed knife pierce 
one of the upper exposed rings of the windpipe, cut downward along the 
central line, dividing two or three of them ; introduce a tracheotomy 
tube, which has a movable collar to prevent going in too far, and fasten 
its strings around the neck to hold it in place. The spout of a tea-kettle 
has been extemporized as a tube, and with good effect. This tube must 
be allowed to remain until the animal can breathe through the nostrils, 
when the wound may be sewn up and treated as any other clean cut. 

rv. Periosteotomy. 

This is cutting down to the bone, and through the periosteum, the ner- 
vous vascular membrane immediately investing the bone, and which in 
health has little or no sensibilitj^ but which in disease of the bones is ex- 
ceedingly sensitive. It is sometimes performed in inflammation of the 
shank bone, when exudation has taken place between the membrane and 
bone, giving rise to thickening and the formation of bony matter. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 489 

How to do it. — Pass an extremely narrow-bladed knife through the 
skin half an inch below the swelling, and carry the point carefully up 
over it, dividing the periosteum or membrane. Then cover with a wet 
bandage, or put in a seton. 

A better way is first to make a snip above and below the tumor with a 
pair of roweling scissors. Then Muth a blunt seton needle fixed in a 
hollow handle by means of a screw, and armed with a tape knotted at 
the end, force it in at the lower snip and carry it up and out at the other, 
breaking down the cellular tissue of the tumor. A probe-pointed knife 
is then introduced slicing the tumor. The knife is withdrawn, and the 
needle, released from the handle, is passed in at one opening and out of 
the other, the end withdrawn from the needle and thus the seton is 
fixed. The operation should be performed by a surgeon. The first 
operation, simply cutting through the periosteum, is altogether the better 
course. 

V. Neurotomy. 

This is the division of the nerve of the hoof in navicular disease M^hen 
other means fail. It will give relief from pain, but it is no cure, and 
generally the disease goes on advancing until the animal becomes worth- 
less. We should never advise the operation upon an animal with a weak 
hoof. The operation must of necessity be performed by a competent 
surgeon who understands the anatomy of the foot and leg. 



VI. Division of the Tendons. 

There are some disabilities, as bad cases of knuckling over, carrying 
the tail awry, or only the toe of the hind leg may be able to be put to 
the ground, from contraction of the perforans tendon. Relief is obtained 
by division of the tendons, but it should always be done under the advice 
of and by a competent surgeon and with proper instruments. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS MINOR DISEASES 



I. PIGMENT TUMORS. II. EPITHKLIAL CANCKK. III. DROPSY OF THE LUNGS. IV- 

STIXGS AND BITKS. V. FALLIXG OFF OF HAIR. VI. ACUTE IRRITATION OP THE SKIN. 

VII. HARDENING OF THE SKIN. VIII, EXOSTOSIS OP THE LOWER JAW. IX. SWELL- 
ING BY PRESSURE OP THE BRIDLE. X. SORE NOSE. XI. ROARING, OK HIGH-BLOW- 
ING. XII. WIND-GALLS. XIII. RUPTURE OF THE HAMSTRING. XIV. INTERNAL 

HEMORRHAGE. XV. PARTIAL PARALYSIS. 



I. Black Pigment Tumors. 

Those black pigment tumors known by the learned name of Melanosis, 
and which are so common in gray and white horses, attacking the bare 
parts of the skin, as the anus, the vulva, the sheath, the udder, the lips, 
the eve-lids, etc., are occasionally cancerous, but for the most part quite 
harmless. If they are deemed objectionable, as disfiguring the animal^ 
remove them with the knife. 

II. Epithelial Cancer. 

This is a nipple-like cancer, which sometimes appears on the lips of 
horses. It should be promptly removed with the knife, after which the 
part should be burned over with lunar caustic. 

III. Dropsy of the Lungs. 

This results from valvular and other diseases of the heart. When the 
ear is placed to the chest, and the horse struck on the other side with the 
open palm, the sound heard is nearly the same as that heard in pneumo- 
nia ; but it may be distinguished from pneumonia by the entire absence 
of fever which characterizes lung dropsy. It is usually beyond medical 
veach, as the diseased heart, its original cause, is generally incurable. 
490 



THE HOKSE, ITS DISEASES. 491 

No treatment, in addition to that already prescribed for heart disease, 
can be recommended. 

IV. Stings and Bites. 

Hornets, wasps and bees often attack horses, and sometimes cause 
them serious injuries. To relieve a case of this kind, we use one of the 
following remedies, with which the coat must be thoroughly saturated : 
Solution of ammonia; weak carbolic acid wash, (1 ounce to a quart of 
water) ; 1 pint of lime water, in which 1 drachm of carbolic acid is dis- 
solved ; or oil of loljelia. 

Cases are recorded of horses having died in consequence of an attack 
of bees. In ordinary cases, the preceding direction properly carried out 
will be sufficient ; but in more aggravated ones, sponge the whole body 
with lime water, and then smear with linseed oil. If lime is not accessi- 
ble, use a weak solution of soda. Spirits of turpentine and laudanum, 
in equal parts, will give relief. 

To prevent the stings of gad-flies, make a strong infusion of the green 
bark of the elder, and wash the flanks before going out. To prevent the 
bites of buffalo-gnats, that are so troublesome along the lower Mississippi, 
cover the parts most likely to be attacked with a mixture of tar and lard 
— two parts of lard to one of tar. 

V. Palling Off of Hair. 

i-i^or that unwholesome state of the skin and hair glands known by the 
learned terms of humid exanthema and dry exanthema, that causes the 
falling off of the hair, the following is an excellent local remedy when 
the animal is not under general treatment for some disease primary to 
the state now under consideration : 

No. 209. 1 Ounce pulverized charcoal, 

1 Pint olive oil, 
5 Ounces pyroligneous acid, 

1 Ounce common salt. 

Mix, and rub upon the parts daily with a sponge or a soft rag. 

VI. Acute Irritation of the Skin. 

For that acute irritation of the skin consequent upon clipping, witk 
which some horses suffer so much, wash twice a day carefully with a 
solution of soda (2 ounces of soda to a bucket-full of water). If the 
horse is especially feverish and sore, give the following purgative; 

No. 210. 8 Ounces castor oil, 

2 Ounces tincture of aloes, 

2 Drachms essence of peppermint. 



492 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In grooming, use a soft brush, and discard the curry-comb until the 
soreness and tenderness are gone. 

VII. Hardening of the Skin. 

For that hardening of the skin which takes place in consequence of the 
pressure of some portion of the harness, from cutting the integuments 
and sub-cellular tissue, from the calkings of the shoes, from cauterized 
fungi, etc., use the acetate of cantharides as an application to the in- 
durations : 

No. 211. 1 Ounce acetate acid, 

5 Ounces water, 
1 Ounce pulverized cantharides. 

Mix, and let the mixture stand fourteen days to soften. Then filter 
through linen or blotting paper, and add one ounce of spirits of wine. 
Apply it occasionally by means of a bit of sponge. Or, use equal parts 
of oil of turpentine and olive oil applied in the same way. 

Vin. Exostosis of the Lower Jaw. 

That unnatural enlargement or bony ex- 
crescence of the lower jaw, known by the 
above name, is generally caused by a tight 
curb-chain used with a curb-bit of such lev- 
erage as to enable the rider to inflict injury 
by violent jerking. The jaw-bone is bruis- 
ed, and soon enlarges. The injured portion 
must exfoliate, or scale ; and the presence of 
TUMOR cArsED BY CURB-CHAIN, thls uuiiatural substaucc under the flesh and 
tendons gives rise to a foul ulcer, unless steps are taken to give relief 
while the hurt is comparatively recent. 

Nature makes a constant effort to heal, however, and unless the tumor 
is irritated by passing particles of bone, it partially heals, so that an ob- 
stacle is interposed from time to time to the escape of the scales ; and in 
this way an unnatural bony structure is formed and matured before the 
bony tumor is entirely healed. To prevent this, open with a keen knife, 
as soon as the bone is found to be injured, and keep the Avound open by 
using the elastic syringe and warm water, until the discharge has assumed 
an offensive odor — then syringe into it several times daily, this solution : 

No. 212. 1 Scruple chloride of zinc, 

4 Drachms essence of anise seed, 
1 Pint water. 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 493 

If taken in time, and treated in this way, the healing may take place 
without deformit}^ 

When once the bony excrescence has established itself, no one but a 
skillful veterinary surgeon should be entrusted with its removal. 

IX. Swellings by Pressure of the Bridle. 

These, as the designation indicates, are swellings, sometimes sores, and 
occasionally, when of old standing, callous lumps, made by the pressure 
or rubbing of the bridle upon that little prominence on the neck just 
below and back of the root of the ear. If the swelling is simple and 
recent, remove by saturating it with the camphorated corrosive sublimate 
(No. 2) and drying in with a hot liat iron, held close without touching. 
This must be attended to once a day, and the bridle must be kept off 
during treatment. If there is a sore without fungous growth (proud flesh) 
the same treatment will be found effective. 

If the tumor is of old standing and fungous, the proud flesh must be 
burned away with lunar caustic. If it is old and horny, resort must be 
had to the knife, after which the wound may be healed by a dressing of 
simple cerate, 'W of any of the unctuous oils. 

X. Sore Nose. 

The nose sometimes becomes sore from long-continued purulent dis- 
charges, from any irritating substance introduced, but generally from 
grazing near some irritating weed or vine. Jamestown weed will often 
poison the noses of horses, yet the leaves, buds and pods are eaten with 
impunity. So-called "sneeze weed" will also irritate the nose and cause 
it to become sore. As a rule rubbing the nose Avith mercurial ointment 
in which equal parts of sulphur and lard has been intimately mixed will 
effect a cure. Apply with a mop, if out of reach of the hand, to be 
rubbed in as well as may be possible. 

XI. Roaring and High-blowing. 

This is when a horse emits any unnatural noise in traveling, whether he 
simply be thick winded, or emits the peculiar noise when hard urged, or 
the sharp sound denominated whistling and piping, similar to roaring, 
but a more confirmed type, occasioned by a strong closing of the rima 
glottidis. Whistlers are simply chronic or confirmed roarers, and roaring 
precedes whistling. Both impediments to breathing are produced by 
atrophy or wasting or degeneration of the muscles whose office it is to 
dilate the larjaix. 

Thick wind is from an inflamed and thickened condition of the smaller 



494 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and lower branches of the breathing tubes, whistling from a narrowing 
or constriction of the windpipe. Roaring, again, is of two kinds, acute 
and chronic. The first is, in comparison with the chronic and confirmed 
state, light and trivial. Fortunately it is comparatively rare in the United 
States, but quite common in England, and essentially a disease of high 
or well-bred horses. 

True high-blowing, as understood by English horsemen, is not consid- 
ered a disease or impediment. There is no sound made during inspira- 
tion. The air is expelled during and after hard exertion, with force and 
a peculiar vibration of the nostrils, causing the sound. 

Causes. — Ai^y ^^^^ ^^ "^ these impediments are produced by various 
affections, and some of them, as thick wind and roaring, are considered 
by some as hereditary. Laryngitis, distemper, bronchitis, pneumonia, 
tumors, diseases of the nasal membranes, and tight reining. Roaring and 
whistling are decided unsoundness. So also should thick wind be con^ 
sidered, if the horse is to be used for any other than slow work. 

How to know it. — One of the means used is to go into the stall, take 
the horse by the head, and make a motion as though to strike him across 
the side with a stick. The animal will probably spring towards the man- 
ner, and if a roarer, the peculiar grunt accompanying the habit will be 
made. Yet it must be admitted that some horses, under the impulse of 
sudden fear, will grunt. The best test is to put him to speed more 
severe than usual. If the trial is objected to, be sure there is something 
wrono", and be sure also that there are no straps about the neck to pre- 
vent or ease the habit. In addition to the ordinary sound made by 
roarers, they often, indeed usually, have a loud, hard, sharp- cough, be- 
tween a cough and a roar. If occasioned by laryngitis, this cough will 
be indicative of the chronic stage of that disease. So a thick-winded 
horse will have a short, hard, dry cough, which he will give upon making 
any sudden movement, or upon being struck sharply upon the abdomen. 

What to do- — Remedies are of but little avail, except as palliations. In 
slight cases, and during the earlier stages, swabbing the larynx with a 
solution of nitrate of silver has given relief. It is prepared by dissolving at 
the rate of ten grains of nitrate of silver to each ounce of distilled water, 
and is applied by means of a small, soft sponge fixed on the end of a 
piece of whalebone, the sponge having a cord attached and longer than 
the handle, so as to be recovered if it comes off. Pads have been at- 
tached to the nose-band of the bridle, so as to lie on and compress the 
false membrane of the nose. These have given relief if the horse is not 
required to make extra exertion. Firing or blistering about the region of 
the larynx has also been successfully used as a means of relief. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 495 

When roaring is caused by paralysis of the muscles of the larynx, hy- 
podermic injections of strychnine every two or three days in half grain 
doses has given relief. 

Relief is also sometimes given by rubbing on daily, or once in two 
days, the following : 

No. 213. 1 Drachm iodine, 

2 Drachms iodide of potash, 
2 Ounces lard. 

Mix at a heat little more than to melt the lard, by placing in a vessel 
of hot water. 

In all of the diseases mentioned, good, easily-digested food should l)c 
given, and only sufficient water to satisfy the actual demands of the sys- 
tem, and the animal should not be put to work within an hour of eating 
his food. 

Thick Wind. 

This may be alleviated, and sometimes cured, by giving the following 
ball once or twice a day for several days in succession, as the animal may 
seem to need it : 

No. 214. 1 Drachm powdered camphor, 

1 Drachm powdered niter, 
1 Drachm powdered opium. 

Or if preferred, to be given once a day, until five or six doses are taken, 
the following ; 

No. 215 1 Drachm powdered niter, 

1 Drachm extract belladonna. 
J grains arsenic. 

XII. Wind-galls. 

Causes. — Windgalls may arise either from strains, over exertion, or 
dropsy of the parts. As a rule they are elastic, round swellings on each 
side of the tendons, rarely becoming solid from coagulation of the lymph, 
unless as is occasionally the case, the strain is so severe as to cause in.^ 
flammation of the bone, ulceration and bony deposit. They do no injury 
whatever, and do not cause unsoundness. 

What to do. — If the puffs, windgalls, are just appearing they may be 
scattered somelimes by a strong decoction of white oak bark and alam. 
They may be reduced by blistering from subsequent contraction of the 
skin ; so the liquid lymph maybe drawn out Avith a hypodermic syringe, 
after which a wet bandage should be applied over the part., 



496 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

If there is heat tiud tenderness in connection with the windgalls it must 
be treated with fomentations and a high-heeled shoe as recommended for 
such disabilities. As a rule simple windgalls being so common, often 
appearing on colts, and doing no injury, had better not be meddled with 
unless there is inflammation attending them. 

XIII. Rupture of the Hamstring. 

Not only the hamstring but other sinews are subject to rupture or even 
division. In this case the parts should be brought together and held so 
by starch bandages or splints or both, when fibrous tissue will form and 
the ends will unite in three, four, or five weeks. If inflammation occurs 
it must be treated as heretofore advised. 

XIV. Broken Wind. 

A horse with broken wind is in pretty much 
the same condition as a man with the asthma. 
It is said often to occur suddenly, as after unu- 
sual exertion, or after severe work upon a full 
stomach. The facts are, these ma}'^ have aggra- 
vated and suddenly made apparent symptoms not 
noticed before. There is no cure, but much may 
be done to alleviate the distress and enable the 
animal to do ordinary slow work. 

HOW TO HEA.K THE SOUND MADS -^ 

IN THE HORSE'S WINDPIPB. 

How to know it. — There is often, for a long time previous to a severe 
attack, more or less cough — a short dry hack, and occasioned by irritabil- 
ity of the larynx. The appetite is often ravenous and morbid, the thirst 
excessive. As the disease progresses there is flatulence, a pendulous 
belly, a ragged coat, and a general dejected and unthrifty appearance. 

In breathing there will be a three-fold effort. The inhalation will be 
quick, the expiration slow. Then the abdomen will rise as in an effort to 
drive forward the diaphragm, and thus empty the half expired lungs. 
The two last effoi:ts seem laborious, and the double effort is often only 
partially completed when the animal is again forced to gasp for breath. 

In the earlier stages the peculiar sound made is in the windpipe. The 
cut given will show the manner of listening to sounds for throat difficul- 
ties. Every horseman should accustom himself to recognize not only the 
sound indicative of health}^ breathing but also those given out in various 
diseases of the throat. No horse with heaves or broken wind should be 
driven immediately after eating. The food should be sound, and water 
should be given only in small quantities. 




THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 497 

XV. Internal Hemorrhage. 

Internal bleeding or hemorrhage is rare unless made by puncture of 
some of the deep-seated blood vessels. The orifice leading to the surface 
l)eing obscure and high, will of course occasion internal bleeding. When 
they can be got at the remedy is of course tying. Punctured wounds do 
not bleed much, the clot usually closing the orifice, assisted by the con- 
traction of the vessel. In transverse or oblique clean cuts of an animal 
causing wounds to the important arteries deatli must follow unless they 
can be cut down upon and tied. 

Rupture of the blood vessels of the lungs sometimes occurs from over 
exertion, and is also common from the nose. Or hemorrhage of the 
lungs may arise from any pulmonary complaint involving the blood 
vessels. In this case it must be determined. If 

the blood comes from both nostrils and is frothy, _,^^gN 

it is from the lungs. If the horse has no 
specific disease of the lungs, and is in full flesh, 
l)lecding from the neck vein, a full stream, may 
check the blood. Digitalis in fifteen grain doses 
may be given. It may give present relief, but 
probably there is no permanent cure. 

If the bleeding is from the blood vessels of the 

J. ^ J.- £ ^ 1 • 1 INTERNAL UEMORRIIAGE. 

nose, a strong solution or alum may be syrmged 

up the nostril. If this fails, pour half a pint of boiling water on a 
drachm of matico leaves, and when cool strain and inject it up the nostril. 
Chronic hepatitis, congestion and inflammation of the liver, often results 
in hemorrhage internal^. The symptoms confirming this state of things 
are, the mouth cold, nasal membranes pallid, the eyes ghastly, sometimes 
yellow. The horse will look for the seat of pain on the right side, and 
usually lies on the left side when down. The head is depressed. As the 
disease progresses there is increased Aveakness w^ith staggering. The 
pupils of the eyes are dilated ; the sight is bad, and if the head is 
attempted to be raised high the animal instantly shows signs of falling. 

What to do. — Put the animal in a roomy stall, or loose box. Keep 
the bowels regulated by grass and bran mashes only, with nutritious food 
and as much gentle exercise daily as the animal can take. Prepare the 
f(dlow ing : 

No. 216. 2 Ounces iodide of potassium, 

1 Quart liquor potassa. 

Mix, and give two table-spoonfuls twice a day in a pint of water. 




498 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

V. Partial Paralysis. 



This is a disease principally confined to fast driven horses, or tho^e 
used to extreme exertion. It is also occasioned by ergot in the hay or 
grain and then is known as ergotism . An injury to the brain may cause 
paralysis of the opposite side of the body. So paralysis of the face, 
body or limbs may arise from pressure on the brain. Paralysis of one 
side of the body, called hemiphlegia, may result from disordered brain 
or spinal cord. So paralysis of the face, ear, eyelid, lip, tongue, larynx 
and tail may arise from local causes. A current of cold air continually 
striking a part, bad fitting bridles, collars, or other parts of the harness. 
Paral3^sis of the hind limbs is the most common form and may result from 
injury to the loin or back, from indigestion, from tumors, parasites, in- 
flammation or softening of the spinal cord, from eating freshly ripened 
seeds of some of the grasses (the loliums) as darnell, flax rye grass, and 
perennial rye grass. 

What to do. — The cause must first be found. See articles on inflam- 
mation, poisons, indigestion, etc. 




UORSK SUFFERING FROM PARTIAL PARALYSIS OF THE HIND LEGS. 



If the paralysis proceeds from an incurable disease it is to be treated 
by cold water shocks and subsequent friction by rubbing. Among the 
best means is a current of electricity daily. 

The following ball has resulted in relieving the difficulty when it was 
partial paralysis of the hind limbs : 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 495 

No. 21 !. >i Grain strychnine, 

>i Grain iodine. 

Work this up into a ball with powdered quassia and molasses and give 
daily, gradually increasing the strychnine according to its effects, so that 
at the end of three weeks one grain will be given daily, and, if good 
effects are produced, a grain and a half may be given daily at the end of 
five or six weeks. 

Paralysis is, however, past cure. Something may be done for present 
relief, but each recurring attack is more and more severe. The most 
strengthening food should be given and the best of care, always being 
careful that the animal be not subject to cold drafts, or extraordinary 
labors. During the recurrence of the attacks, absolute rest and quiet 
must be given. In the giving of nerve stimulants, as strychnine, when 
increasing the doses gradually, if twitching or slight cramps of the 
muscles are observed, cease giving for a few days and then begin again 
with the smallest dose. 
32 



CHAPTER XIX. 



MEDICINES. 
What to Keep, How to Obtain, How to Prepare, and How to Give Them. 



1. ALTERATIVES. II. ANESTHETICS. III. ANTISEPTICS. IV. ASTRINGENTS. V. CA 

THARTICS. VI. CARMINATIVES. VII. COUNTER IRRITANTS. VIII. CAUSTICS. 

IX. DIAPHORETICS. X. DIURETICS. XI. DEMULCENTS. XII. DISINFECTANTS AND 

DEODORIZERS. XIII. EMKTICS AND EXPECTORANTS. XIV. NARCOTICS, ANODYNES^ 

AND SEDATIVES. XV. RELAXANTS. XVI. STIMULANTS. XVII. TONICS. XVIII. 

VERMIFUGES. XIX. IMPORTANCE OF SYMPTOMS. XX. DISSECTION. XXI. SURGI- 
CAL AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS. XXII. MEDICINES TO BE KEPT. XXIII. DOSES. 

It is not necessarj'^ that everj'^ farmer should keep a large quantity of 
medicines on hand. A few simples will suiEce, except in the case of 
those who, having a large stock of animals, require medicines to meet 
cases apt to arise. The great point we have insisted on, and here reiter- 
ate, is good care and attention, in health, and good nursing in sickness, 
as being most important in the care of farm animals. The day has past 
for bleeding and purging for every ill that even horse flesh is heir to. 
Good nursing, attention to the general health, and to symptoms, with the 
prescriptions we have given, will enable any one to carry an animal 
through an ordinary sickness. 

Every person who has carefully studied this work will see the necessity 
of keeping some medicines on hand, since there is no reason why, with 
the aid of what we have presented, he may not be able to treat nine in 
ten of the diseases to which farm animals are subject, and without the 
aid of a professed veterinary surgeon. The very full glossary which will 
be found as a part of this work, should be consulted for medical terms 
used when the definition does not immediately follow the use of the term. 
In naming the medicines and their effects in this chapter we shall give 
definitions that may be found in the glossary, since in the division of the 
subject of medicines it seems proper that we should follow the rule 
adopted of defining the meaning of terms in the body of the work. The 
operations of medicine may be defined as follows : 

I. Alteratives. 

Medicines acting generally and continually on the system, especially on 
the blood and glandular system. Among the alteratives are, antimony, 

oOO 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 50.1 

niter, sulphur, ginger, calomel, arsenic, iodine, iodide of potassium, 
sulphite, or bi-sulphite of soda. 

Antimony. — Black sulphuret of antimony. Dose 1 to 2 drachms. 
Given in connection with suljjhur, 1 to 2 ounces, and niter 4 to 6 drachms. 

Ginger. — Given as an alterative only in connection with other medicines. 

Calomel. — Give in broken doses, say 1 scruple. Another form of 
mercury, sulphuret, give 3 drachms once a day in connection with 4 
drachms cream of tartar in a pint of water. This has been recommended 
in obstinate cases of surfeit^ and other affections of the skin. 

Ai^senic. — Dose 5 to 10 grains daily. It should only be used under the 
tlirection of a veterinarian. Its action is principall}^ on the nerves. 
Fowler's solution of arsenic contains 4 grains to the ounce. It is the 
best form in which to administer the mineral. 

Iodine, — As an alterative oive 10 to 20 grains. 

Iodide of potassium. — Dose 1-2 to 1 drachm. Valuable in chronic 
rheumatism, chronic cough, scrofulous enlargements, and to cause ab- 
sorption in pleurisy, and inflammation of the lungs. 

Bi-sulphite of soda. — This must not he confounded toith sidphate. Dose 
1-2 to 1 ounce relieves tymphany. 

II. Anaesthetics. 

These remedies benumb the senses, relieve pain, and are used hirgely 
in destroying sensation in performing principal surgical operations. All 
that will be necessary to notice are t 

Chloroform and Ether. The best and safest preparation is the fol- 
lo'^ving : 

'So. 218. 1 Ounce alcohol, 

2 Ounces chloroform, 

3 Ounces ether. 

Cast the animal to be operated upon ; pour a table-spoonful on a 
sponge and hold to the nostrils so that the animal can take some air Avith 
it, since if not mixed with air, it is fatal to life. Keep the fingers on the 
pulse, and if it ceases, or intermits decidedly, discontinue, and hold harts- 
horn to the nose, and commence again more lightly. So soon as uncon- 
sciousness is produced, suspend the use of the anaesthetic, and renew 
again from time to time, until the operation for which it is given is 
completed. 

Sometimes the niiimal ^vill continue low for some time after the admin- 
istration, with failing ])ulse :ind irregular breathing. If so, pour pails of 
cold water on the })()dy, and if necessary, gently inflate the lungs with a 
])air of bellows, at the same time pressing upon and releasing the ribs, as 
in natural respiration. Also press pieces of ice into the rectum, or 



502 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

vagina, according to the sex, as an additional means of restoration, \T 
necessary. As the natural functions again act, clothe the body and rub 
drv. From tAvo to four minutes should be sufficient to produce complete 
insensibility in either the horse or ox. 

III. Antiseptics. 

These are used to arrest mortification and putrefaction. The principal 
agents are charcoal, creosote, pyroligneous acid, sulphate of zinc, and 
yeast. They should be applied directly to the parts affected. 

IV. Astringents. 

These are agents used to stop or lessen discharges, either of the bowels, 
nose, blood vessels, kidneys or glands, and are applied both internally 
and externally. Among those usually employed, are, acetate of lead, 
alum, catechu, ergot, kino, opium, per sulphate of iron, tannin, the min- 
eral acids, and gallic andtanic acids. 

They should not be used when there is considerable inflammation ; nor 
for diarrhoea, in the beginning of a difficulty, since this flux is often an 
effort of nature to relieve the body by natural means. 

Acetate of lead . — Dose, 1 to 2 scruples. As a wash, use a saturated 
solution. 

Alum. — Dose, 2 to 3 drachms ; useful in sore throat and dysentery. In 
powder, used for stopping the flow of blood. 

Catechu. — Dose, 2 to 5 drachms. Useful in diarrhoea. 

Ergot. — Dose, 1-2 to 1 ounce. Checks bleeding from the lungs, nose, 
stomach and bowels. As an astringent, for this purpose, it is better to 
give it by hypodermic injections, using ergotine in solution in five grain 
doses. 

Kino. — Dose, 1-2 ounce to an ounce. Given in diarrhoea. 

Opium — Laudanum. — Dose, powdered opium, 2 drachms. Lauda- 
num, 2 to 4 ounces. It is a well known agent in relieving the spasms of 
colic, dysentery, locbjaw and other convulsive ailments. In diseases of 
the lungs and breathing tubes, if the respiration is short and quick, it 
should not be given. So, if there is much fever it should not be given 
until these symptoms abate. 

Per sulphate of iron. — Dose, 1 to 2 drachms. Useful for arresting 
bleedinjr or hemorrhaore. 

Tannin. — Tannic acid is the best form. Dose, 10 to 20 grains. A 
powerful astringent in diarrhoea or mucus discharges. 

V. Cathartics. 
These are medicines actino; strons-lv and directly on the bowels as a 
purge, in from 3 to 12 hours. Strong purgatives should not be given 
except it be necessary to thoroughly evacuate the bowels, and deplete the 



I 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. ^ 503 

animal system. The principal agents employed are aloes, croton oil, 
linseed oil, podophyllin and salts. 

Aloes, Barhadoes. — This should always be used in preference to C:ipe 
aloes, which is more griping. Dose 4 to 8 drachms. 

Croton oil. — A powerful and sharp purgative, valuable in obstinate 
constipations. Applied externally it is apt to irritate and produce blem- 
ish. Dose internall}^ 20 drops. 

Linseed oil. — A safe, and pretty sure, mild purge. Dose 1 pint to 
1 quart. 

Podophyllin. — This is the active principle of the May apple. It is 
both purgative and sedative. Dose 1 to 2 drachms. Its effect on animals 
is not so marked as on man. In the commencement of fevers it is 
excellent. 

Salts. — Sulphate of soda or Glauber salts is generally used when pur- 
gative effects are required. The dose is 1 to 1 1-2 pounds. Epsom salts, 
sulphate of magnesia, dose 1 to 2 pounds, or 8 to 12 ounces, and repeated 
avery three or four hours until an ojieration is had. 

VI. Carminatives. 

These are used in colic, griping, etc., and are often given with griping 
medicines. The principal agents are black pepper, caraway seeds, cloves, 
o^inger, peppermint, sage, etc. 

Black pepper . — Dose 2 drachms. When a quick and powerful remedy 
is required give 2 drachms red (ca3^enne) pepper. 

Caraway. — Dose 1-2 to 1 ounce of the seeds, as a powder, or as an 
infusion. 

Cloves. — Dose 1-2 to 1 ounce of powdered cloves steeped in hot water 
and given warm, or 30 to 60 drops of the oil of cloves given iu thin 
mucilage of gum arable. 

Peppermint (oil). — Dose 15 to 30 drops in mucihige. Sage or any of 
the heating herbs may ])c given as a tolerably strong infusion or tea. 

VII. Counter Irritants. 

These are divided into classes : Rubefacients, which simply excite the 
skin to redness ; vesicants, which blister, and suppurants which produce 
sores on the surface. They are serviceable by setting up inflammation 
on the surface near the seat of disease, in congestion and inflammation of 
internal organs ; also of the })ones, joints and tissues. Rubefacients are 
good in influenza, and other attacks of a general nature, where there is 
low fever; as, for instance, rubbing a paste of mustard on the legs and 
Avashing it off in ten or fifteen minutes. Vesicants should not be used 
when fever or inflammation is high, and suppurants are chiefly of value 
in old chronic complaints. 



504 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Rubefacients. — Alcohol, ammonia, mustard, turpentine. 
Vesicants. — Cantharides, scalding water, and a hot iron at 212 degrees, 
Fahrenheit. 

Suppurants. — Croton oil, ointment of tartar emetic. 

VIII. Caustics. 

Agents which burn and destroy the flesh. Used to kill the virus in 
poisoned wounds, eat out proud flesh, destroy sloughs, and stimulate old 
ulcers ; to produce healthy action in fistulas, and remove warts and other 
excrescences. Among the best agents are butter of antimony, caustic 
potash, chloride of zinc, lunar caustic (nitrate of silver), nitrate of 
mercury, nitric acid, and the hot iron at a white heat. Chloride of zinc 
and nitrite of silver come in pencil shaped sticks. Nitric acid must be 
used with care. It is powerful and intensely eating, causing extreme pain, 
but which soon ceases. It may be used by dipping a suitable slip of 
Avood in the acid and apphdng. The hot iron is the most powerful caustic, 
as it is the most eflicient. It however requires nerve and judgment to 
use it properly and efficiently. 

IX. Diaphoretics. 

These are medicines to cause sweating or to increase the insensible 
perspiration, and thus relieve pressure on other organs. Acetate of am- 
monia in solution, Dovers powder, ipecac and cantharides are mainly 
employed ; the animal being covered quite w\aini. Warm water is also 
useful, but steaming the most prompt of all. 

Acetate of ammonia. — Solution. Dose, 2 to 3 ounces. 

Dover^s powders. — Dose, 3 drachms. 

Ipecac. — Given in 2 to 3 drachm dose? in warm water, until the effect 
is produced. Not especially useful for horses. 

Cantharides. — Dose, 4 to 5 grains. 

X. Diuretics 

These are medicines used to act on the kidneys. Saltpeter, sweet 
spirits of niter, cream of tartar, turpentine and digitalis are princi- 
pally used. 

Saltpeter. — Dose, 6 to 8 drachms. 
• Sweet spirits of niter. — Dose, 1 to 2 ounces. 

Cream of tartar. — Dose, 1 ounce. 

Turpentine (Oil). — Dose, 1 to 2 ounces. 

Digitalis. — Dose, 15 to 20 grains. 

Both diuretics and diaphoretics are similar in their action. If sweating 
is intended, it must be assisted with warmth and friction. If operation 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 605 

on the internal organs is required, warmth and friction should not be 
used. 

XI. Demulcents. 
These are gummy or glutinous substances, used to soothe and cover in- 
flamed surfaces, or those in an irritable condition ; as infianimation of 
the throat, stomach and bowels ; in diseases of the kidneys, or for irrita- 
ble conditions generally. Those most in use are : Linseed tea, frum 
arable water, slippery elm bark tea, starch water and olive oil. Marsh 
mallows makes one of the most valuable agents known, being especially 
soothing to the bowels. 

XII. Disinfectants and Deodorizers. 

The most valuable of these are, sulphate of iron, chloride of zinc, car- 
bolic acid, chloride of lime, used for disinfecting and deodorizing drains, 
etc. The cheapest is a solution of sulphate of iron, a good handful dis- 
solved to each bucket of water used. As an atmospheric fumigant and 
disinfectant, the following is cheap, and one of the best known : 

No. 219. % Pound flowers of sulphur, 

2 Pouudsj i)ine tar. 

Mix with a gentle heat, saturate tow with it and burn without flame. 

Carbolic acid in weak solutions, or crude carbolic acid in its liquid, im- 
pure form, as it comes from the gas works, is valuable for brushins: over 
any wood, iron, brick or stone work. Also" valuable for wetting cloths, 
and hanging up to destroy disease germs, keep away flies, etc. 

The following formulas will be found valuable disinfectants : 

No. 220. 1 Part sulphate of zinc, 

1 Part powdered oak bark, 

2 Parts sulphate of iron. 

Mix into balls of proper size and place in drains, sink-holes and cess- 
pools. 

Collins' disinfecting powder is made by adding 1 part of burnt alum to 
two parts of chloride of lime. Pour on water to thoroughly wet the 
mass, and set in shallow pans about the stable. 

The following is a powerful disinfectant • 

No. 221. 2 Pounds common salt, 

1 Pint oil of vitriol. 

Pour the oil of vitriol gradually and slowly over the salt, and the act- 
ive disinfectant, muriatic gas, will be evolved. 

The following, known as chloralum, is not poisonous, and has no smell. 
To make it take, 



506 ILLUSTRATED STO'CK DOCTOR. 

No. 222. 1 >a Pounds chloride of aluminum^ 

1 Gallon water. 
Dissolve. 

A most effectual, powerful and cheap disinfectant, but poisonous, il 
taken, is made as follows . 

No. 223. 8 Ounces chloride of zinc, 

16 Ounces sulphate of iron, 
1 Gallon water. 
Dissolve. 

A pint mixed in a gallon of water will be quite strong enough for use. 
Xm. Emetics and Expectorants. 

What would act as an emetic on man, would be simply a nauseant with 
the horse. The horse does not vomit, nauseants act to loosen a cough, 
and to loosen the mucus in the air passages, and thus facilitate its expul- 
sion. Nauseants also act as a substitute for the old practice of bleeding. 
Tartar emetic, blood root and sulphate of zinc are among those usually 
employed. 

Tartar emetic. — Dose, 1 to 1 1-2 drachms, in connection with lobelia 
and saltpeter. 

Blood root. — Dose, from 2 to 4 drachms of the powdered root. 

Sulphate of zinc. — Dose, 1 to 2 drachms. 

Tartar emetic. — This is often employed in connection with saltpeter 
and lobelia. Dose, tartar emetic 1 drachm ; saltpeter 1 ounce ; lobelia 
1 drachm. 

XIV. Narcotics, Anodynes and Sedatives. 

These run one into the other, and are used to soothe pain, allay the 
irritability of the system, and quiet excessive nervous action. Narcotics 
quickly quiet the system, induce sleep, and if taken largely, produce 
death. When given simply to allay pain, they are called anodynes. The 
action of a sedative is to lower nervous force, reduce the pulse and abate 
febrile symptoms, especially in the beginning of acute inflammation. 

Narcotics. — Opium, or its preparations, laudanum and morphia, bella- 
donna, tobacco and Indian hemp. 

Opium is generally given as a tincture, in the form of laudanum. 
Dose, 1 to 2 ounces. 

Morphia. — Dose, 3 to 5 grains. 

Belladonna. — Dose, 2 ounces. 

Indian hemp. — The dose of this drug 1-2 to 1 drachm. 

Sedatives. — Aconite, tincture. Dose, 20 to 30 drops. 
Veratrum viride. — The dose of this is 1 scruple. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 507 

XV. Belaxants. 
These deprive the muscles of their power. Of this class lobelia should 
be given in doses of 1 to 2 drachms. 

XVI. Stimulants. 

These are, alcohol, and are given in the form of brandy, whisky, nun, 
gin and ale. The latter when an animal is exhausted bv hard drivin<>". 
The dose of brandy, whisky or gin is 3 to 6 ounces, and of alcohol 1 to 
3 ounces diluted with water. Other stimulants are : ether, dose, 1 to 2 
ounces ; carbonate of ammonia, dose, 2 to 4 drachms ; turpentine, dose, 
1 to 2 ounces ; and ginger, dose, 1 ounce. The ginger to be given as 
a tea. 

Stimulants are used when it is necessary to quickly raise the animal 
from exhaustion. In nervous exhaustion its effects are marked, but it 
must not be given in inflammation or fever, 

XVII. ToDics. 
Tonics sharpen the appetite, increase the nervous vigor, and thus im. 
prove the condition of the patient. Many liorsemen are fond of giving 
condition powders, the main value of which lies in the alteratives and 
tonics contained. In this they suppose that they are beneficial to already 
healthy animals. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are 
not beneficial unless the animal is out of condition and the system needs 
rallying. To get the best effect from tonics, they should be given in 
light doses, and continued for a considerable time. Then intermit for a 
few days, and if necessar}^, commence again, or substitute another tonic. 
The mineral tonics, sulphate of iron, sulphate of copper and arsenic are 
more active than the vegetable t(mics, Peruvian bark, gentian, quassia, 
etc., though often the two forms combined act with greater efficacy. 

XVIII. Vermifuges. 

These are medicines supposed to be useful in expelling worms. 

For round worms, common salt, to be licked at will, is one of the 
best agents to expel them. Oil of turpentine 1 ounce. Tartar emetic 2 
drachms and sulphate of iron 2 drachms ; give five or six days in succes- 
sion, and follow by a purge. Four to 6 drachms of aloes is one of the 
best direct vermifuges. 

Tapeworm. — Oil of turpentine 1 ounce doses; or root of male shield 
fern, 1 ounce of the extract. Give all vermifuges fasting, and at the end 
of four hours give a purge of aloes. For weak animals give areka nut 
1 ounce. 

In using a vermifuge it is always better to clear the bowels before 
giving it, and in case the worms are in the intestines give injections as well 



508 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

as a purgative by the mouth. It should be remembered that vermifuge^ 
that destroy by mechanical irritation, as iron filings, pounded glass, etc., 
should never be given. 

From the foregoing the action of the different classes of medicines will 
be learned. Some of the more common we have given as examples. In 
the vast list of drugs used in medicines, and which are drawn alike from 
the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, and some of them, the most 
valuable, being deadly poisons, must not be given in too large doses, the 
practitioner cannot be too careful in their use. The doses we have given 
in this chapter are from medium to large. If there is any doubt in 
using those, especially the strong poisonous extracts or crystals use the 
smaller. 

There are really but few medicines out of the large list that are of 
real and well known value in common practice. The druggist in prepar- 
ing medicines, uses delicate scales and weighs accurately. It is always 
better that they compound the prescriptions if possible ; yet, as it is not 
always convenient to seek the druggist, especially when a stock of medi- 
cines in ordinary use is kept, it is better to have a pair of scales and a 
liquid measuring glass. We therefore append a table of weights and 
measures as used by veterinarians : 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
Apothecaries' Weight. 

20 grains make 1 scruple, 

3 scruples make 1 drachm, 
8 drachms make 1 ounce, 

16 ounces make 1 pound. 

Wine Measure. 

60 minims, or drops make 1 drachm, 

8 drachms make 1 ounce, 
16 ounces make 1 pint, 

2 pints make 1 quart, 

4 quarts make 1 gallon. 

Sufficient accuracy in fluid measure for anything not violent in its 
action, will be the following : 

60 drops, or 1 tea-spoonful, make 1 drachm, 
4 tea-spoonfuls, or 1 table-spoonful, make K ounce, 
2 table-ripoonfuls make 1 ounce, 
1 wine-glassful makes 2 ounces, 
1 tea-cupful makes 4 ounces, 
• 1 tumblerful makes )4 pint, 
1 tin-cupful makes 1 pint. 

A handful of flaxseed, or other seed, usually innocent in their nature, 
will weigh about 2 ounces ; a handful of leaves of dried herbs will weigh 
about 1 ounce. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 509 

IX. Importance of Symptoms. 

The importance of understanding symptoms in disease, not only of the 
horse, but of all farm stock, is generally underrated b}^ farmers and stock 
men, and yet it is the key to all remedial means. Unfortunately, dumb 
animals cannot tell how they feel, and thus the practitioner must judge; 
by outward signs, which, by the way, are pretty ample to the careful ob- 
server. These are difficult to describe in print, yet they have been so 
described as fully as possible in the list and treatment of diseases. 

Every horse owner, and especially every stock-raiser, should educate 
himself to understand symptoms in such diseases as he must necessarily 
have to deal with. This will not be found difficult, if the reader will use 
the means w^e have presented in this work. The pulse is one of the most 
important agents in this direction ; through this, we may get a pretty 
accurate indication of the state of the system in relation to fever, ple- 
thora of blood, or the reverse. It cannot well be described, and yet it is 
soon learned by use and observation. In the horse, the mouth is hot and 
dry in fever, and moist and cool in health. In health the nose of the ox 
is especially cool and moist, and in fever hot and dry. The full or small 
pulse, depends upon an excessive quantity of blood in the yessels indi- 
cating a full or a weak nutrition. A thready or wirey pulse is indicative 
of a small quantity of blood in the vessels, combined with an increased 
or diminished contractibility of the heart. A sluggish or oppressed pulse 
will indicate unusual fulness of the vessels, the vital powers of contract- 
ibility and sensibility not being increased, or, it may eyen be one or both 
of them being diminished. Among the internal causes operating on the 
pulse are irritability and nervousness. Outside causes are temperature, 
other atmospheric causes, and manner of feeding. The stock man who 
will habituate himself to feeling the pulse of his animals, Avill soon come 
to understand how slight causes will sometimes affect this agent, and thus 
w;ill soon learn to detect disease, often by this indication alone. This and 
attention to the outward symptoms we have given in diseases enumerated, 
will soon enable him to dispense with the services of the practiced veter- 
inarian, except in critical cases. 

XX. Dissec'^ion. 
If a farmer w^ould, when an animal is sick, in addition to attending to 
studying the symptoms as they appear, take the trouble, in case it dies, 
to open it, with a view of studying the altered structure, knowing as he 
may, how they look in health, this would assist him greatly in under- 
standing disease generally ; for by this means he may find just when and 
how the parts affected are changed. He will thus, also, come to understand 
the importance of good care and nursing in the prevention and elimination 
of disease, more fully than by any other one means. 



510 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

XXI. Surgical and Other Instruments. 

With all our care it is necessary to meet disease and accidents when 
they come, and to this end we must be provided at least with a few sim- 
ples, and the means of arriving at quantities. 

To this end we have advised the purchase of a pair of scales to weigh 
grains, drachms, ounces and pounds ; certain surgical instruments, also, 
and a small store of the medicines such as are in common use. 

In the horse stable a balling iron should be kept. This is an iron ring 
through which the closed hand may be passed ; on the top and bottom 
are two bars, which placed between the front of the jaws enable the 
mouth to be kept open while the hand passes the ball of physic to the 
root of the tongue. Sponges of several sizes should also be kept. A 
roomy nose-bag and an atomizer will be useful. The little India rubber 
bottle with which the wife sprays her plants, will answer very well in 
place of a better, for spraying the external surfaces. 

Means for giving injections should be procured. This may be the 
regular horse or cattle syringe, though the pail and India rubber pipe, 
described in another part of the volume, will be found simple and 
effectual. 

A drenching horn or bottle is another implement that should not be 
neglected. A probang should always be kept. A trocar will be found 
useful in case where the stomach is to be punctured to permit the escape 
of gas. A knife will, however, answer in its place very well, if the 
blade be sufficiently long and pointed. An outfit larger or smaller accord- 
ing to the necessities of the stock owner, may be bought in any store 
where surgical instruments are kept, and in fact in any of the larger drug 
stores of cities. 

A convenient one which we have used contains : 1 . A blunt-pointed 
V)istour3% an instrument for making incisions. When only one is to be 
used we recommend the slightly curved form, with the sharp edge on the 
inside. 

2. Thumb lancet. We are opposed to the old time fleam. It seems 
to have been invented for ignorant persons ; certainly none such should 
ever operate, even on an animal. A little judgment Avill soon enable the 
operator to use the lancet properly and with effect, gauging the depth 
properly to which the puncture is to be made. It is better than the 
spring lancet. 

3. A spring forceps, most valuable in dressing wounds, catching 
arteries for tying, for removing foreign substances in wounds, and for a 
variety of other purposes. 

4. An aneurismal needle — a long blunt needle. It can be used as a 
probe and for introducing small setons. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 511 

5. A silver probe, for exploring wounds. It is blunt at one end and 
sharp at the other, and is indispensable. 

G. A frog knife, a narrow straight blade, sharply curved into a strong 
edged hook at the end, and used for paring and cleaning the frogs of the 
hoofs, etc. 

7. A pair of curved scissors, for trimming the edges of wounds, ex- 
cising ragged flesh, clipping the hair, and for other purposes. 

8. A straight, broad scalpel (knife), used in dissecting, opening ab- 
scesses, castiating, and various other surgical operations. Any straight, 
broad-bladed, keen-edged knife will do. In castrating, however, we 
have always preferred a round-pointed blade, similar to that used by 
nurserymen in budding. 

9. A seton needle for threading and introducing tapes or other setons. 

10. A few surgical needles, white thread and silk, or better, thin cat- 
ffut. These mav all be carried in a neat morocco case made for the 
purpose, and can be afforded, wholesale, at ten dollars. (In fact we will 
send them at that price, delivered with this book.) 

XXII. Medicines to be Kept, and Doses. 

The following drugs will be found handy. Keep everything in white 
V)ottles, well corked. Corrosive substances must have ground glass 
stoppers. The druggist, if so instructed, will arrange things. Quanti- 
ties of these to be kept should be about ten doses each. 1 dose is: 

1. Acetic acid — Antidote to acids, cooling astringent. Horse, 1 drachm ; 
ox, 2 drachms ; sheep, 1 scruple. 

?. Tincture of aconite. — Sedative, diaphoretic. Horse, 20 to 30 drops ; 
ox, 30 to 40 drops ; sheep, 3 to 5 drops. 

3. Alcohol. — Stimulant, diuretic, narcotic. Horse, 1 to 3 ounces ; ox, 
3 to n ounces ; sheep, 1-2 ounce. Locally, cooling astringent. 

4. Barhadoes aloes. — Purgative. Horse, 4 drachms. 

.5. Alum. — Astringent. Horse, 2 to 3 drachms ; ox, 3 to 4 drachms ; 
sheep, 1-2 to 1 drachm. 

n. Ammonia, liquid. — Diffusible stimulant, anti-spasmodic, anti-acid, 
diuretic. Horse, 1-2 ounce : ox, 1-2 to 1 ounce ; sheep, 1-2 to 1 drachm. 

7. Carbonate of ammonia. — Diifusible stimulant, anti-spasmodic, 
anti-acid, diuretic. Horse, 2 to 4 drachms; ox, 4 to 6 drachms ; sheep, 
12 to 1 drachm. 

8. Anifie seed, caraiDay, cardamon, fennel seed. — Stomachic, carmina- 
tive. Horse, 1 ounce; ox, 1 to 2 ounces; sheep, 2 to 4 drachms. 

9. Arnica tincture. — Stimulant, diuretic. Horse, 1 drachm ; ox, 1 
drnchm ; sheep, 1 scruple. 

10. AsafrjpJida . — Diffusible stimulant, carminative, vermifuge. Horse, 
2 drachms ; ox, 4 drachms ; sheep, 1-2 to 1 drachm. 



512 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

11. Balsam of Peru. — Stimulant, antispasmodic, expectorant. Horse, 
1 ounce ; ox, 1 to 1 1-2 ounces ; sheep, 2 drachms. 

12. Borax. — Nerve sedative, uterine stimulant. Horse, 2 to 6 drachms ; 
ox, 1-2 to 1 ounce ; sheep, 1-2 to 1 drachm. 

13. Blackberry root. — Astringent. Horse, 2 to 4 drachms; ox, 12 
ounce ; sheep, 2 scruples. 

14. Camphor, — Antispasmodic. Horse, 1 to 2 drachms ; ox, 2 to 4 
drachms ; sheep, 1 scruple. 

15. Carbolic acid. — Sedative, anodyne, astringent, antiseptic, disin- 
fectant. Horse, 1-2 to 1 drachm ; ox, 1 drachm ; sheep, 10 drops. 

16. Cherry bark, wild. — Expectorant. Horse, 1-2 ounce ; sheep, 2 to 

scruples. 

17. Copaiva. — Stimulant, diuretic, expectorant. Horse, 2 to 4 
drachms ; ox, 3 to 4 drachms ; .sheep, 1-2 to 1 drachm. 

18. Cream of tartar. — Diuretic. Horse, 1 ounce ; sheep, 4 to 6 
drachms. Laxative : horse, 5 ounces ; ox, 5 to 8 ounces, sheep, 1 to 2 
iHUices. 

19. Ergot. — Checks bleeding, parturient. Horse, 1-2 to 1 ounce ; ox, 

1 ounce ; sheep, 1 to 2 drachms. 

20. Iron, peroxide. — Tonic. Horse, 2 to 4 drachms ; ox, 4 drachms ; 
sheep, 1 drachm. An antidote to arsenic. 

21. Lime, chloride. — Checks tympany, disinfectant. Horse 2 to 4 
drachms ; sheep, 1 to 2 drachms. 

22. Linseed oil. — Laxative. Horse, 1 to 2 pints ; ox, 1 to 2 quarts ; 
sheep, 1-2 pint. 

23. Lobelia. — Sedative, antispasmodic, expectorant. Horse, 1 to 2 
drachms ; ox, 1 to 3 drachms : sheep, 15 grains ; swine, 5 to 15 grains. 

24. Mallow. — Demulcent. Give freely of cold infusion. 

25. Mentha piperita (^peppermints , — 30 to 60 drops. 

26. Oak bark. — Astringent. Horse, 1 ouiK^e ; ox, 2 to 4 ounces ; 
sheep, 4 drachms. 

27. Olive oil. — Laxative. Horse, 1 to 2 pints; ox, 2 to 3 pints; 
sheep, 3 to 6 ounces. 

28. Opimn. — Narcotic, sedative, anodyne, antispasmodic. Horse, 1-2 
to 2 drachms ; ox, 2 to 4 drachms ; sheep, 10 to 20 grains. 

29. Opium, tincture laudanum. — Narcotic, sedative, anodyne, anti- 
spasmodic. Horse, 1 to 2 ounces : ox, 2 ounces ; sheep, 2 to 3 drachms, 
Of the powdered drug, give : horse, 1-2 to 2 drachms ; ox, 2 to 4 
drachms ; sheep, 10 to 20 grains. 

30. Pepper, black. — Stomachic, stimulant. Horse, 2 drachms ; ox, 3 
drachms ; sheep, 1 to 2 scruples. 

31. Pumpkin seeds. — Vermifuge, tseniafuge. Horse, 1 pint. 



THE HORSE, ITS DISEASES. 513 

32. Mhuharb. — Laxative, tonic. Horse, 1 ounce ; ox, 2 ounces ; sheep, 

1 drachm. 

33. Resin. — Diuretic. Horse, 4 to G drachius ; ox, 1-2 to 1* ounce ; 
sheep, 2 to 4 drachms. 

34. Soap. — Diuretic, antacid, laxative. Horse, 1 to 2 ounces ; sheep, 

2 to 6 drachms. 

35. Silver nitrate {lunai\ caustic). — Nerve tonic. Horse, 5 grains; 
ox, 5 to 8 grains ; sheep, 1 to 2 grains. 

36. Sweet spirits of niter, Spirits of 7iitr.ous ether. — Stimulant, anti- 
spasmodic, diuretic, diaphoretic. Horse, 1 to 2 ounces ; ox, 3 to 4 
ounces ; sheep, 3 to 6 drachms. 

37. Tobacco. — Sedative, antispasmodic, vermifuge. Horse, 4 drachms ; 
ox, 4 to 6 drachms ; sheep, 1 drachm. 

38. Tar. — Expectorant, antiseptic. Horse, 1-2 to 1 ounce ; ox, 1-2 
to 2 ounces : sheep, 1-2 ounce. 

39. Turpentine oil. — Stimulant, antispasmodic, diuretic. Horse, 1 to 
2 ounces ; ox, 1 to 1 1-2 ounces ; sheep, 1 to 2 drachms. Vermifuge : 
Horse, 2 ounces ; ox, 2 to 3 ounces ; sheep, 4 drachms. 

40. Valerian. — Diffusible stimulant, antispasmodic, vermifuge. Horse, 
2 ounces ; ox, 2 to 4 ounces ; sheep, 1-2 ounce. 

41. Wild cherry harJc. — Expectorant. Horse, 1 ounce; ox, 1 1-2 
ounces; sheep, 3 drachms. 

42. Zinc, sulphate. — Astringent, tonic. Horse, 1 to 2 drachms ; ox, 

2 to 3 drachms ; sheep, 15 to 30 grains. 

XXIII. Graduating Doses. 

In the administration of medicines the following statement of ages and 
doses will be found valuable in determining quantities. The doses men- 
tioned in the preceding list being full ones : 

A horse of 3 years, ox 2 years, sheep 11-2 years and swine 15 months 
old, should have a full dose. 

A horse 15 months to 2 years ; cattle 1 to 2 years, sliecp D to 18 
months, and swine 8 to 15 months, 1-2 of a full dose. 

A horse 9 to 18 months, cattle 6 to 12 months, sheep 5 lo 9 months 
and swine 6 to 8 months, require 1-4 of a full dose. 

A colt 5 to 9 months old, calves 3 to 6 months, lambs 3 to 5, and pigs 

3 to 6 months old, may have 1-8 of a full adult dose. 

Colts 1 to 5 months old, calves 1 to 3 months, lambs 1 to 3 months, and 
pigs 1 to 3 months old, may have 1-16 of the dose. 

JServous, excitable animals require less than others. The continued 
>ise of medicines renders their action slow and decreases their power. 
The influence of disease also checks or modifies action. In diseases of 
the ])rain, and spinal cord, and in impaction of the stomach, double 



514 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

quantities must sometimes be given, while in low fevers one-half the 
usual quantity may produce evil, and sometimes prove fatal. 

As a rule, anodynes, narcotics, sedatives, stimulants and anti-spasmodics 
may be repeated once in four hours until the required effect is produced. 

Twice daily may be given as the rule for alteratives, refrigerants, tonics, 
diaphoretics and febrifuges. 

Emetics should be repeated every five or ten minutes and their action 
induced by opening the mouth and irritating the throat with a feather. 
If the animal will drink, give large draughts of slightly warm water. 
Emetics are not given to horses. 

Purgatives should not be given the second time until the first has had 
full time to operate. In the horse not before 36 hours ; cattle and sheep 
12 to 15 hours ; swine in 7 to 10 hours. 

Draughts of tepid water, or warm gruel assist the operation of purgatives. 

A ball is not to be made round, but longer than it is wide and not 
larger than a walnut for horse or ox. It must be small enough so an 
animal may swallow it easily. Balls are made of drugs in powders mixed 
into a semi-solid state with honey or molasses and linseed meal, and cov- 
ered with oiled tissue paper. 

Drenches (liquid medicines) are made as infusions, with warm or cold 
water, or as decoctions with boiling water. Powdered substances not 
solvent in water are mixed with thick gruel or mucilage. 

A ball is best given with the aid of a balling iron. This has been pre- 
viously described. Put the iron between the front of the jaws, and place 
the ball well back on the tongue with the hand. Hold the head well up 
until swallowed. This may be aided by stroking the throat next the jaws. 

Liquids are given from a horn or thick quart bottle with a pretty long 
neck, such as a champagne bottle. No liquid or irritating medicine should 
be given until sufficiently diluted with water so that it will not injure the 
mouth if held therein some minutes. 

Oil of turpentine, croton oil, and other strong irritating substances 
that will not mix with water, should be mixed with palm or olive oil, 
milk beaten with eggs, or it may be given in mucilage as the case may 
require. 

Powerful agents, that do not irritate, act promptly injected under the 
skin with a hypodermic syringe. A surgeon's advice should be used in 
administering them. 

Injections are given with a horse syringe. There are patent injectors 
that pump in the liquid continuously. We have described an implement 
that works well, by gravity, and is easily made. Small syringes are used 
for injecting abscesses. Also the hypodermic syringe for injecting under 
the skin. 



CHAPTER XX. 



IMPLEMENTS AND APPARATUS. 



"Wliat to Keep, and How to Use Them. 

Catheter. — This is a round gutta percha tube, with one end open, the 
other rounded and near the end with two openings. Used to draw away 
the water when the horse is unable to pass it naturally. They are also, 
introduced into deep ulcers, and liquid injected through them by means 
of a syringe. In using the catheter, it should be well oiled and carefully 
and slowly pushed along the orifice or canal. 

Drawing Tcnife. — Frog knife. The knife in common use by black- 
smiths ; a thin blade with a sharply-curved end fixed in a handle, and 
used in cutting into and paring the hoof. 

Firing iron. — A heavy, blunt-edged blade fixed in a handle, and some- 
times used for blistering when the actual cautery is considered necessary. 
Valuable in skillful hands. 

Forceps. — These are pincers with long jaws, and used for extracting 
splinters, pieces of bone, or for seizing arteries in order to tie them up. 

Knives. — These should be always keen and should be both sharp and 
round-pointed. A heavy bistoury is a long, narrow-bladed knife for 
opening deep wounds and abscesses. 

Lancet. — These are of three kinds : the thumb lancet, the spring lan- 
cet and the fleam. The thumb lancet is gauged by the thumb, the spring 
lancet by a spring, and the fleam is struck by a hard wood stick. Always 
make the incision lengthwise of the vein. 

Ligatures. — Cords for tying arteries, and in tying, a surgeon's knot 
should be used. Instead of passing the end of the cord once round the 
other, pass it twice around before drawing tight. It will hold securely. 

Probes. — These are made of silver wire, with the ends slightly knobbed. 
They are useful in exploring wounds. 

Rowel. — This is a ring of leather, an inch or so in diameter, the rim 
^^ 615 



516 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

being about a quarter of an inch wide. It is wrapped with flax or 
thread moistened with turpentine, and pushed down into a pocket made 
in the skin, to induce a running sore. They are little used now; setons 
accomplishing the object fully. 

Setons. — A cord or ligature of leather thrust in, under and out of the 
skin, and tied. It is soaked with turpentine or smeared with irritating 
compounds, and turned every day, the object being to promote and keep 
up a discharge of pus, and reduce inflammation. 

Seton needles. — These are broad, curved blades, with a round shaft 
eighteen inches long, and with an eye at the blunt end. Used for thread- 
ing setons of tape, cord or leather into wounds made. Needles for sew- 
ing up wounds are of several sizes, curved, square needles. 

Tents. — These are pledgets of tow, lint or other substances introduced 
nito wounds to cause them to form matter. They should be moistened 
with Venice turpentine. 

Twitch. — A loop of leather or strong cord, fastened securely upon a 
stout handle two feet long. Used for holding refractory horses, or dur- 
ing surgical or other operations. Pass the upper lip through the loop, 
and twist until sufficient force can be used to keep the animal still. 

Hopples. — Ropes for casting a horse. They should be each twenty- 
five feet long. Have two strong straps of leather double, Avith a two 
inch seam ])etween, and so they ma}'' be buckled tight to the fetlock. 
Fasten both ropes securely to the bottom of a collar jDlaced on the horse's 
neck. Or if the rope is long enough, loop the middle to the collar ; 
buckle a strap securely to each hind pastern, pass the ends of the rope 
through the rings, and back through the collar. One man manages the 
head to bring the horse down properly and easily, while assistants pull 
forcibly on the ropes ahead. A horse should never be cast except uj^on 
a thick, soft bed of straAV or tan bark. If it is simply wished to hopple 
the horse, fasten the ends of the rope to the collar, and of such a length 
that the horse cannot kick. 

Slings. — These are an apparatus to suspend a horse's weight in case of 
fracture, rheumatism, or other diseases when the animal cannot bear full 
weight on the limbs. First a broad strip of leather or strong canvas two 
feet wide and six or seven feet long, stiffened at the ends by being sewn 
around smooth billets of wood. To this a breeching is attached to pass 
around the buttocks, and others to and about the breast, to hold it se- 
curely. Loops must be fastened to the billets at the ends of the girdle of 
sufficient streno-th to bear the weio^ht of the animal. Double blocks and 
pulleys are attached to these, suspended at proper points, and thus the 
animal is lifted and suspended so as to bear much or little weight on his 
limbs. 



PART III. 

CATTLE; 

HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS 
AND MANAGEMENT. 



CATTLE 



CHAPTER I, 



NATURAL HISTORY OP CATTLE. 

^EIR ORIGIN EARLY DOMESTICATION THE DIFFERENT KINDS AND THEIR PECULIAR- 
ITIES IMPROVED BREEDS DEVONS SUSSEX SHORT HORNS ALDERNEYS 

AYRSHIRES HOL8TEINS POLLED CATTLE KERRY COWS THE CHEROKEE OR 

TEXAS CATTLE, ETC., ETC. 

' The native country of the genus Bos is not known, and the wild type 
iias long since passed away. 

The Urus is regarded as the f)arent of domesticated cattle, and is 
described in its wild state, as an animal of enormous size, of great fierce- 
ness, and fable has thrown around it an air of mystery, as is common in 
all legends that have come down to us from the far past. 

Domestication of Cattle. 

The domestication of cattle is also a matter of conjecture. 

Our earliest record comes from scripture. Jubal, the son of Lamech, 
who lived in the lifetime of Adam, is recorded as being "the father of 
such as have cattle." 

Noah certainly had cattle, and wherever the sons of Noah migrated, 
they carried cattle with them. 

Cattle were worshipped by the earliest Egyptians, and among the 
ancient nations of Judea, they were, and still are, held in great ven- 
eration. 

In the days of Abraham, cattle certainly were regularly bred, and in 
the days of Jacob we have an account of systematic breeding to color, 
and probably to type. 

519 



520 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Ill every civilized nation, the keeping of cattle forms among the earliest 
productive industries recorded, and every Celtic nation has at one time 
or another represented them as divinely given, or else, like the Hindoos, 
held them in the greatest veneration. 

Scientific Nomenclature. 

According to naturalists cattle belong to the ci. ass 3Iammc(Ha ; that is, 
having mammce or teats ; their natural order is called ruminantia, from 
their habit of ruminating, or chewing the cud. 

Their tribe is termed bovidae^ meaning the ox kind. The genus is 
bos, the ox ; the horns growing, from the crest, projecting at first side- 
ways, and porous or cellular inside, with a film of true horn encasing the 
cellular bony structure inside ; the sub-gexus, which will form the 
subject of what we have to say, is termed bos tcnwus, or the domes- 
ticated ox. 

Of these there are many families, or sub-families ; each distinctive 
bl'eed being a family. Mixed breeds, grades, and crosses, may be termed 
*ub-families. 



The Teeth. 

Cattle are distinguished as to their teeth by having eight lower incisors, 
and none upper ; these are the cutting teeth. They have no canine 
teeth or tusks, but have twenty-four molars" or grinding teeth ; six on 
each side of the lower jaw, and six on each side of the upper jaw. The 
upper jaw' has no incisors ; but the skin upon Avhich the lower inci- 
sors meet in the upper jaw is thickened, 
hard, and in aged animals ahiiost horny. 
The teeth may be represented as follows; 
tiie figures above the line representing the 
upper, and the figures below the line rep- 
resenting the lower jaw : 

6 6 

Cattle, incisors, — , canines, — , molar.'- . 

8 V) 6 

Total, 32 teeth. 

We annex a cut of a section of tlie lower 

jaw showing the eight incisors, of a mature 

ox, or at the age of five years. Before 

and after this age the teeth vary very 

materially, as other portions of this section '^^'^^ ""^ ^"^ ^"^^""^ ofFivk Years. 

show. 




:^ 



BNK-' 






i 



WW' 



? t 



i f. 



.r ,^M 



.8 .si'»J 



.saarfi ni 1B9W bns jiijsq 



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» r .^rr^f 



.sd^q joihoq 098 oIiix9 lo ssji dii inimooiros siaxl 'jsiiiiil lol 



inmr «=irir ■ 



OHAJFIT F*0:EI^ A-OOXJ3FtA.TES3Li"5r TEXjXjI3VC3r THES j^OrESiS QF" OA-TTX^E. 




Mg. 1. 

Teeth of Calf at Birth, showing the first 
two incisors, milk teeth. 




Fig. 2. 

Teeth at two weeks old, showing four 
temporary incisors. 



rig. 8. 

Teeth at fifteen months old, showing 
lorption and weiiv in all the temporary 
pcrs. 



ah- 
nip- 



sjiJi%/i/«! wmrdiiuj h Avt. of Camjir 




Fig. 3. 

Teeth at three weeks old, showing six 



Fig. 9. 

Tcctli at eighteen months old, showing 
two first permanent incisors (i-O' ""<' next 
two pairs (2-3 and 3-^), growing and push- 
ing upwards toward the surface ; also (4-4, 
5-5 and 6-6) showing absorption. At (8-S) 
is shown the alveali, or cells for the teeth. 




Fig. 10. 

Teeth at two years old past, showing four 
permanent incisors, and four temporary ones, 
absorption nearly complete ; also marks of 
wear on two first pairs. 



Fig. 4:. 

Teeth at one month old, showing eight 
incisors, or the full set. 




Fig. 11. 

Teeth at three years past, showing six per- 
manent nippers, and two outside temporary 
ones nearly gone ; also wear on two central 
pairs. 



Fig. 5. 

Teeth at six to eight months old, showing 
wear on first two, or central teeth. 




Fig. 13. 

Teeth at four years past, showing eight 
permanent incisors — the full mouth — and 
complete complement ; also wear on all but 
outside teeth. 




Fig. 6. 

Teeth at ten months old, showing absorp- 
tion in first two pairs of teeth, and wear of 
two outside pairs. 




Fig. 7. 

Teeth at twelve montho old, showing ab- 
sorption in all the nippers, except outside 
pair, and wear in these. 




Fig. 13. 

Teeth at five years past, showing wear and 
dark marks. 




Fig. 11. 

Teeth at ten years old, showing permanent 
spaces between them; and also shafd from 
natural wear by use. 



For furthei' facts concerning tlie A^es of Cattlo m preoe^inf paps. 



■Na 




; .^iu 




'J " Vii 







.0 



.8 .TiM 






>'\\NUv-^) '\'> \lL u^ OUilj'VOOOV) Jv)\lV 



PHUaMWMtHttaNWHHHHnMWHMBKMiiaaBHK 



CATTLE, THEIR ORIGIX, ETC. 



521 



The annexed cut of section of the head 
of an ox will show the molars, or grind- 
ing teeth, and also the terminal bone of 
the upper jaw, corresponding to the lower 
face jaw, and destitute of teeth. 

Explanation. — a — Molars or grind- 
ers. 6 — Superior maxillary bone — its 
palatine process, c — Cells of the pala- 
tine bone, d — Anterior maxillary bone, 
destitute of incisor teeth. 




SECTION OF Head of Ox. 



Breeds of Cattle. 

The breeds of cattle which have acquired favor in the United States are 
confined to but few. 

The Devons are the typical race of England, as among those that have 
retained their purity, through long generations, breeding with entire uniform- 
ity as to color, symmetry, horns, and other general characteristics, fully as 
much so as the Ciiillingham white cattle, which are regarded as descendants 
of the original or aboriginal cattle of the British Islands. 




First Prize Devon Bull, " Wilmot." 

Two Years Old, 

The Property of Mr. George Rudd, Guelph, Out. 



522 ILLUSTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

7-'he foregoing cut is a good illustration of a Devon bull as he appeared 
when but two years old. Such an animal may be regarded as a most admirable 
specimen. 

Classification of Haces. 

In England cattle are divided into beef and dairy cattle. Beef cattle 
again are divided into long-horns, middle-horns, short-horns, and polled 
or hornless cattle. 

Long-Horns. 

Of the long-horns ; the old Irish long-horns showed a striking pecu- 
liarity, which was, that their horns turned directly downward. 

In Craven, England, has long existed a breed of cattle peculiar in 
themselves, broad in the chine, quick and easy to fatten, and noted for 
making excellent beef. 

Under the scientitic breeding of Bakewell, a hundred years ago, and 
his immediate successor, Leicester, long-horns acquired a wide celebrity. 
This was undoubtedly attained b}^ breeding in-and-in. He was known 
to have done so to a remarkable degree. 

With the death of Bakewell and his immediate successors, excessive 
delicacy of constitution began to tell, and they began to lose caste years 
ago, as a race. 

They have left their impress, hoAvever, and, most decidedly, upon the 
whole family of long-horns. They became better feeders, better hand- 
lers, and made better beef than before the infusion of this blood. 

They have long been superseded by the short-horn and the Herefords, 
and are only noticed here, as forming a part of the mixed blood of cattle, 
of the United States and Canada. 

We occasionally see by reversion, animals among our so called native 
cattle, showing strong characteristics of Leicester, Hereford, Devon, the 
old Teeswater, the Dutch and polled cattle. 

Middle-Horns. 

Of the Middle-Horns the only cattle valuable in the United States, are 
the Devons and the Herefords, both wonderful families, in their make up, 
and valuable whether for beef or working oxen. 

In fact the Devon is the best working ox in the world, and as beef 
makers their fiesh is superior to that of any other breed, except the 
Scotch, or West Highland cattle. 

Besides the Devons the other families of the Middle-Horns, are the 



CATTLE, THEIR ORIGIN, ETC. 



52i 



Sussex, Pembroke, Glamorgan, Angelsea, and, in Scotland, the West 
Highland cattle, noted for the superiority of their flesh, and which have, 
for many generations, remained unchanged, or improved except by selec- 
tion. 

Their principal value, after all, is their extreme hardiness, and aptitude 
to fatten where other animals would starve. 

Above, as showing the characteristics of this breed, we give an illustra- 
tion of a West Hio-hland ox, in good feedins: flesh. 

The Davons. 

The celebrity that the.Devons long ago attained for their superior beef 
and working qualities, is wholly due to the fact that they have long been 
bred, in North Devon, pure. Hence, they are often called North Devon, 
to distinguish them from the South Devons and the Sussex, both infe- 
rior cattle, either from a feeding or working standpoint. 

The Devons are undoubtedly an original and pure race, and have been 
noted for their high excellence for many generations. 

It is only within the last two hundred years that systematic efforts have 
been made to increase the excellence of English cattle, and it is not more 
than one hundred and fifty years ago that Davon farmers were waked up 
to the improvement, that might be made in these high strung, generous 
feeders. The}^ have within the last seventy-five years been ])rought to 
such high perfection, that they do not suffer in comparison with other 
high caste cattle, and they would certainly suffer by intermixture with 
any other breed. 




The Standard Devon Bull. 



524 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Where Devons Thrive. 

They cannot compete with the Short-Horns und Hcrefords, on flush 
western pastures. 

They hick size, and early maturity, but on hill, or broken pastures, and 
in climates too cold for these breeds, and especially in climates unsuitable 
to Short-Horns, they are the best cattle ever known. 

On the previous page, as shoAving the extraordinary symmetry and 
style of this remarkable breed, we present a likeness of a Devon bull, 
remarkable for eminent characteristics of the breed. 

Devon Cows. 

The bulls of this breed are inclined to be vicious as they get old. 
The cows are gentle, and if gently used, kind in the extreme. Both 
males and females, however, are so high strung that they will not bear 
abuse. A brutal master they will fight, but if managed with a firm, yet 
gentle hand, they are the most familiar, as they are the most intelli- 
jrent, of horned cattle. 

The cows give exceedingly rich milk, and many of them fair quantities. 

The males are said to cross kindly with the Guernseys, and these 
make valuable dairy cattle. 

There are however now so many excellent pure breeds of milkers that 
it would be futile to experiment with the cross, since it will surely reduce 
the value of the animal either for work or beef. 

•As workers, milkers and beef makers combined, for the amount of 
food taken, they have no superior, if they have their equal. As beef 
makers alone, in the West, the Short Horns and Hereford are superior. 
As milkers the Jersey, the Holstein and Ayrshire take the palm. As 
working cattle the Devons are superior to all known breeds. 

The cut on the following page is a good illustration of a high caste* 
Devon cow. 

Characteristics of the Devon Cow. 

This we give as follows : 

There arc few things more remarkable about the Devon cattle than the 
comparative smallness of the cow. The bull is a great deal less than the 
ox, and the cow smaller than the bull. 

This is some disadvantage, and the breeders arc aware of it ; for, 
although it may not be necessary to have a large bull, and especially as 
those of an extraordinary size are seldom handsome in all their points, 
but somewhere or other present coarseness or deformity, it is almost 



i 



CATTLE, DEVONS. 



525 



impossible to procure large and serviceable oxen except from a somewhat 
roomy cow. 

These cows, however, although small, possess that roundness and 
projection of the two or three last ribs, which make them actually naore 
roomy than a careless examination of them would indicate. 




Tht cow is particularly distinguished for her full, round, clear eye, the 
gold-colored circle around the eye, and the same color on the inside skin 
of the ear. 

The countenance is cheerful, and the muzzle orange or yellow. 



526 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



The jaws are free from thickness, and the throat from dewlap. 
The back, the barrel, and the hind quarters differ from those of other 
breeds, having more of roundness and beauty, and being free from angles. 

Points of the Devons. 

Youatt, than whom none have written more intelligently on domestic 
animals, describes the characteristics of the breed as follows : 

The more perfect sj)ecimens of the Devon breed are thus distinguished : 

The horn of the hull ought to be neither too low nor too high, tapering 
at the points, not too thick at the tip. 

The eye should be clear, bright, and prominent, showing much of the 
white, and have around it a circle of dark orange color. 

The forehead should be flat, indented, and small, for, by the smallness 
of the forehead, the purity of the breed is very much estimated. 

The cheek should be small, and the muzzle fine ; the nose must be of 
q. clear yellow. 

The nostril should be high and open ; the hair curled about the head. 

The neck should be thick, and that sometimes almost to a fault. 




Devon Working Ox. 



Excepting in the head and neck, the form of the bull does not mate= 
rially differ from that of the ox, but he is considerably smaller. There 
are exceptions, however, to this rule. 

The head of the ox is small, very singularly so, relatively to his bulk ; 
yet it has a striking breadth of forehead ; it is clean and free from flesh 
about the jaws. 

The eye is very prominent, and the animal has a pleasing vivacity of 



CATTLE, DEVONS. 



527 



countenance, distinguishing it from the heavy aspect of many other 
breeds. 

Its neck is long and thin, admirably adapting it for the collar, or the 
more common and ruder yoke. 

It is accounted one of the characteristics of good cattle, that the line 
of the neck from tlie horns, to the withers, should scarcely deviate from 
that of the back. 

In the Devon ox, however, there is a peculiar rising at the shoulder, 
reminding us of the blood-horse, and essentially connected with the free 
and quick action b}^ which this breed has ever been distinguished. 

It has little or no dewlap depending from the throat. 

The horns are longer than those of the bull, smaller, and fine even to 
the ])ase, and of a lighter color, and tipped with yellow. 

The animal is light in the \\dthers ; the shoulders a little oblique ; the 
breast deep, and the bosom open and wide., particularly as contrasted 
with .the fineness of the withers. 

The fore legs are wide apart, looking like pillars that have to support 
a great weight. 

The point of the shoulder is rarely or never seen. There is no projec- 
tion of bone, but there is a kind of level line running on to the neck. 

Characteristics and Iipiportant Points. 

Angular bony projections are never found in a beast that carries much 
flesh and fat. 

The fineness of the withers, the slanting direction of the shoulder, and 
•.he broad and open breast, imply strength, speed, and aptitude to fatten. 

A narrow-chested animal can never be useful either for workino- or 
grazing. 

With all the lightness of the Devon ox, there is a point about him, dis- 
liked in the blood or riding horse, and not approved in the horse of li<vht 
draught — the legs are far under the chest, or rather the breast projects 
far and wide before the legs. We see the adv\antage of this in the beast 
of slow draught, who rarely breaks into a trot, except Avhen he is o-oaded 
on in catching timss, and the division of whose foot prevents him from 
stumbling. 

The lightness of the other parts of his form, however, counterbalances 
heaviness there. 

The legs are straight, at least in the best herds. If they are in-kneed 
or crooked in the fore-legs, it argues a deficiency in blood, and compara- 
tive incapacity for work ; and for grazing, too, for they will be hollow 
behind the withers, a point for which nothing can compensate, because it 
+akes away so much from the place where good flesh and fat should be 



628 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



thickly laid on, and diminishes the capacity of the chest and the power of 
creating arterial and nutiitious blood. 

The Limbs of the Devons. 

The fore-arm is particularly large and powerful. It swells out tud- 
(ienly above the knee, but is soon lost in the substance of the shoulder, which 
is specially full and round. 

Below the knee the bone is small to a very extraordinary degree, indi- 
cating a seeming want of strength ; but this impression immediately 
ceases, for the smallness is only in front — it is only in the bone ; the leg 
is deep, and the sinews are far removed from the bone, promising both 
, strength and speed. 

It may be objected that the leg is a little too long. It would be so in 
an animal destined only to graze ; but this is a working animal, and some 
length of leg is necessary to get him actively over the ground. . 

The Body of the Devons. 

There is some trifling fall behind the withers, but no hollowness, and 
the line of the back is straight from thence to the setting on of the tail. 
If there is any seeming fault in the beast, it is that the sides are a 
little too flat. It will appear, however, that this does not interfere with 
feeding, while a deep, although somewhat flat chest is best adapted for 
speed. 

The two last ribs are particularly bold and prominent, leaving room 
for the stomach and other parts concerned in digestion to be fully 
developed. 

The hips, or buckles, are high up, and on a level with the back, whether 
the beast is fat or lean. 

The hind quarters, or the space from the hip to the point of the rump, 
are particularly long and well filled up — a point of importance both for 
grazing and working. It leaves room for flesh in the most valuable 
part, and indicates much power behind, equally connected with strength 
and speed. This is an improvement quite of modern date. The full- 
ness here, and the swelling of the thigh below, are of much more con- 
sequence than the prominence of fat which is so much admired on the 
rump of many prize cattle. 

The setting on of the tail is high, on a level with the back, rarely much 
elevated or depressed. This is another great point, as connected with the 
perfection of the hind quarters. 

The tail is long and small, and taper, with a round bunch of hair at the 
bottom. 



CATTLE, HEREFOKDS. 520 

Of the Skin and Hair. 

The skin of the Devon, with his curly hair, is exceedingly mellow and 
elastic. Graziers well know that there is not a more important point than 
this. When the skin can be easily raised from the hips it shows that there 
is room to set on fat below. 

The skin is thin rather than tliick. Its appearance of thickness arises 
from the curly hair with which it is covered, and curly in proportion to 
the condition and health of the animal. These curls run like little rip- 
ples on water. Some of these cattle have the hair smooth, but then it 
should be fine and soft. Those with curled hair are more hardy, and 
fatten more kindl3^ 

The favorite color is blood red. This is supposed to indicate purity of 
breed ; but tiiere are nuuiy good cattle approaching almost to bay, and others 
of intermediate hues. 

If the eye is clear and good, and the skin mellow, the paler color will 
bear hard work, and fatten as well as others, but a beast with pale hair, 
and hard under the hand, and the eye dark and dead, will be a sluggish 
worker, and an unprofitable feeder. 

Those of a yellow color are said to be subject to diarrhoea, or scouring. 

These are the principal points of a good Devon ox ; but he used to be, 
perhaps as many are yet, a little too flat-sided, and the rump narrowed 
too rapidly behind the hip bones ; there was too much space between the 
hip bones and the last rib, and he Avas too light for plowing in tenacious 
and strong soils. 

A selection from the most perfect animals of the true breed — the bone 
small and the neck fine, but the brisket deep and wide, and down to the 
knees, and not an atom of flatness all over the side — these have improved 
the strength and bulk of the Devon ox, wdthout imjDaring, in the slightest 
degree his activity, his beauty, or his propensity to fatten. 

The Herefords. 

The Herefords, named from the county of Hereford, England, were 
originally red or brown, with no white about them. From that the}^ were 
bred to brownish or yellowish red, some few even being brindle. Only 
within the last hundred years have they been bred to Avhite faces. 

It was finally made to extend along the top of the neck, along the throat, 
dewlap, brisket and fore legs, belly and flanks ; and white hind feet and 
tail are now fashionable. 

They are a very ancient breed, and undoubtedly allied to the Devons, which 
they very much resemble. 



t30 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




A 



\ 



CATTLK, IIKKEFOKDS. ^'^l 

Herefords Fifty Years Ago. 

Mr. Marshal, a most competent authority, gives the following account 
of the improved Hereford as it was known fifty years ago : 

"The countenance pleasjint, cheerful, open ; the forehead broad ; eye 
full and lively ; horns bright, taper, and spreading ; head small ; chop 
lean ; neck long and tapering ; chest deep ; bosom broad, and projecting 
"orward ; shoulder-bone thin, fiat, no way protuberant m bone, but full 
and mellow in iiesh ; chest full ; loin broad ; hips standmg wide, and level 
with the chine ; quarters long, and wide, at the neck ; rump even with the 
level of the back, and sharp above the quarters ; tail slender and neatly 
haired ; barrel round and roomy ; the carcass throughout deep and well 
spread ; ribs broad, standing flat and close on the outer surface, forming 
a smooth, even barrel ; the hind parts large and full of strength ; neck 
bones snug, not prominent ; thigh clean, and regularly tapering ; legs up- 
right and short ; bone below the knee and hock small ; feet of middle size : 
flank large ; flesh everywhere mellow, soft, and yielding pleasantly to the 
touch, especially on the chine, the shoulder and the ribs ; hide mellow, 
supple, of a middle thickness, and loose on the neck and huckle ; coat 
neatly haired, bright, and silky ; color, a middle red ; this, with a bald 
face, is characteristic of the true Hereford breed." 

The Hereford Cow. 

The Hereford cow compared with the ox is small and delicate, and not 
always handsomely made, to the superficial observer. 

Here again this breed would seem to show their relationship to the 
Devon. She carries but little flesh, in breeding condition, and when 
breeding, should not be fed sufficiently to accumulate much fat ; for, in 
order that the young be superior, the dam should have plenty of room 
inside. 

With the Herefords, experience has shown that the dam may not be too 
large or coarse but she should be roomy. Then the breeder will get, 
even from apparently inferior cows, large, handsome steers, that will 
fatten early, and kindly, and to great weights. 

When the cow is done breeding, and ready for fatting, it will please 
the owner to see how she will spread out, and accumulate flesh and fat, 
and this to a greater degree, than if not allowed to breed. 

The Herefords are a hardy, gentle race, maturing early, and are long 
lived. The flesh is superior, handsomel}^ marbled, heavy in the prime 
parts, and they fatten to weights fully as heavy as any known breed. 

Their massive strength, honesty and gentleness make them the best 
working oxen known, and the potency of the bulls, when crossed upon 
34 



532 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

red or nearly red cows of the country, renders the steers easily matched 
in color, as they will be easily matched in general characteristics of 
the progeny. 

Herefords in America. 

Heref ords were first brought to America for systematic breeding in 
1816 or 1817, by the great Kentucky statesman, Henry Clay. They 
were soon, however, allowed to run down and were at length entirely lost 
sight of there. Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, a few years after, sent out from 
England a Hereford bull to his friends in Massachusetts, which was used 
in crossing upon the native cattle of the State. He made a very marked 
impress there, and for many years the good result was seen in the cattle 
of the State. 

About the year 1840, there was a large importation made into the State 
of New York, from England. They went principally to Jefferson county 
and some to Vermont. 

About the year 1852 there was another considerable importation of 
Herefords into Ohio — ^very fine animals, where they, in connection with 
later importations, have been successfully bred. 

In 1860 and 1861 two importations were made into Canada, consisting 
of two bulls and eleven cows and heifers, From these there have come 
down many most excellent animals, which have left their impress far and 
wide. Since that time there have been various importations, principally 
in Illinois and Maryland, the produce of which have fought their way 
against the opposition of the Short-Horns, until now they may be said to 
fairly divide honors with this famous breed in America as they are well 
known to do in England. 

As Milkers. 

The cows are not very deep milkers, in fact they give but little milk. 
They were never large milkers, and a course of breeding for many 
generations as beef makers, while it has brought up the animals to great 
weights and such wonderful symmetry that they fairly dispute the palm 
in the showrings with the best Short Horns, the milldng qualities have 
gradually become less and less. It is but another exemplification of the 
fact, that all o-oodness cannot be combined in one animal. 

It is enough that the science of breeding within the last fifty years has 
brought all our domestic animals far toward perfection, in the two great 
classes needed in cattle : that is, superior excellence as beef makers, or 
else superior excellence as deep and rich milkers. It is obvious that it 
must be so, for the animal superior as a milker must necessarily be 
altogether different in her conformation from one destined to produce a 
maximum weight of prime beef at the earliest age. 



CATTL,K, HEREFORDS. 



533 



I 




534 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The Hereford Ox. 

Whether we consider this remarkable breed either in their adaptability 
to heavy draft, or in their wonderful fattening qualities, it is the steers 
that make the money for the feeder. 

Their capability of standing fatigue and constitutional adaptability in 
resisting winter weather, has of late made them great favorites with the 
ranchmen on the plains. 

So, while we see them winning honors in the show rings at home, the 
young bulls are eagerly picked up for transportation to Colorado, New 
Mexico, Montana and Wyoming, to put with the herds there, for the 
purpose of breeding grades. 

Thus two valuable ends will be conserved : That • country will 
send East most superior cattle for feeding fat, in the great corn region 
of the West, while at the same time they will be raising up steers 
admirably adapted to the heavy freighting business in the mountains and 
mining districts. 

The Hereford of To-day. 

As showing the extreme care that has been exercised of late years in 
improving this comparatively rare breed in England, to such great 
perfection as to fairly claim honors with the very best Short-Horns, the 
following extracts from leading agricultural journals, relating to one of 
the great show rings there in 1878, the Bath and West of England, the 
Marh Lane Express speaking of the Hereford exhibit says : 

"They are not so numerous as the more fashionable breed, but the 
quality throughout is excellent. In the aged bull class there are five 
animals of which the Hereford men need not be ashamed. * * * 

"The heifers in milk or in calf numbered only three, but two of them 
were such animals as it was worth while coming to Oxford on purpose 
to see. Mrs. Sarah Edwards, of Wintercott, took first and second, 
leaving Mr. Lutley the reserve ; but Mrs. Edwards' Leonora is one of 
the most perfect animals that has been shown for years. It was first last 
year as a yearUng at Liverpool, and will likely be first wherever it goes. 
The champion prize given by the Oxfordshire Agricultural Society was 
also awarded to this heifer as the best female horned animal in the yard. 
The companion heifer, Beatrice, is also very handsome, and took second 
to Leonora's first at the Royal last year, as it did last week at Oxford. 
Mrs. Edwards may well be proud of such stock as that ; if Leonora had 
been a Grand Duchess Short-Horn a poem would have been composed in 
her honor, and translated into several languages by this time. But no 
Short-Horn that we have ever seen was cast in such a mould. 



CATTLE, HEKEFORDS. 535 

In the Agricultural Gazette ( London ) we find the following : 

"This breed enjoyed the remarkable distinction of producing both the 
chami3ion animals at Oxford. Mr. Aaron Rogers' Grateful being 
declared to be the best bull, and Mrs. Sarah Edwards' Beatrice (a two 
year old heifer) being declared to be the best cow or heifer in the yard. 
Both, as may be supposed, were very good, the heifer pre-eminently so. 
She is a daughter of the famous bull. Winter de Cote, and another 
instance of hereditary merit. 

"The yearling heifers and calves indicate that this breed is, as beef 
makers at an early age, quite up to the highest Short-Horn standard. 
The Teeswater may milk better, and be more ready in adapting itself to 
local circumstances ; but where the pasture is good, it is hard to beat the 
white-faces for grazing." 

The Chamber of Agriculture Journal (London) also says ; 

"The old bull Hereford class produced an extraordinary animal in Mr. 
Aaron Rogers' Grateful, who secured the reserve at the Hereford Show 
in 1876, but did not make his appearance at Bath or Liverpool last year. 
He has made wonderful development since, appearing as a two-year-old, 
as is proved by the fact that Thoughtful, who was then placed above him, 
and has since taken firsts at Birmingham, Liverpool and Bath, has now 
been put second to him ; and that not only was he selected by the judges 
as the best Hereford bull on the ground, but in the contest for the 
championship succeeded in carrying it off against such a Short-Horn 
competitor as Sir Arthur Ingram. This is no slight honor to the 
Hereford breed, and of course any animal counted worthy of such a 
distinction must be a first-class one. Grateful, at four years old, has 
capital loins and chines, with great thickness and depth of frame, and is 
very level all over ; but his grand feature is the astounding mass of 
flesh with which his frame is covered. His girth is eight feet ten and 
one-half inches. Thoughtful has frequently been described in these 
columns, and it is sufficient to state that he is a massive, grand bull, who 
well supports his merit. The next class was a very weak one, only 
consisting of two, and those not so good as the herds of Mr. H. N. 
Edwards and Mr. Philip Turner are accustomed to supply. 

"In the cow class the late Mr. Warren Evans' Lady Blanche, which took 
second prize at Bath, now came to the front position. She is marvelous 
at her fore flank, and displays a great mass of flesh on a well-shaped, 
grand frame, which, however, fell off slightly at the rump. The second 
prize cow, Mr. E. J. Lewis' Little Beauty, had a highly commended at 
Bath, and wonderfully retains her show-yard merit at eleven years old. 
The two-year-old heifers of Mrs. Sarah Edwards, Leonora and Beatrice, 
were, of course, sure to win. Beatrice has recently reared a calf, which 



536 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



is slightly against her for showing ; but Leonora is in full bloom with 
her beautiful head, symmetrical form, and all that loveliness which is so 
taking to the eye. After being selected as the best Hereford female on 
the ground, she carried off the champion prize against a remarkably 




shapely Short-horn heifer, and one of the best Devons that has appeared 
tor years, so that both cups were awarded to Herefords." 



I 



CATTLE, SUSSEX. 537 

Sussex Cattle.— Distinguishing Marks. 

This breed is closely allied to the Devous, but coarser. Their distin- 
guishing marks are : 

The horns are more tapering, pushing farther forward, and turning 
up more. The head is small and well formed, the eye full, large and 
mild in the ox, but rather wild and unquiet in the cow. The throat is 
^lean and the neck long and thin, but coarser than in the Devon. The 
shoulder is wider and rounder on the withers ; straighter from the 
top of the withers towards the back, and carries much flesh, giving too 
much weight to unprofitable parts. On the other hand, the barrel is 
round and deep, the back straight, and the back-bone entirely hidden by 
the muscles on each side. The heart and lungs are full and large, and the 
belly and flank capacious. The barrel is well-ribbed home. The loins 
are wide, the hip-bone low, free from raggedness, large, and well spread, 
and the space between the hips well filled up. The tail, which is fine 
and thin, is set on lower than in the Devon, yet the rump is nearly as 
straight, for the deficiency is supplied by a mass of flesh and fat swelling 
above. The hind quarters are cleanly made, and if the thighs appear to 
be straight without, there is plenty of fullness within. 

In color the Sussex is a deep chestnut red, or blood bay. They are 
all lighter in color than the Devon, but in color they are fully as uniform. 

The Sussex Cow. 

The cows have fine hair, a mellow, rather than thin skin ; a small teat ; 
horns fine, clean, and transparent, which reach forward from the head 
and turn up at the tips ; the neck is thin and clean ; back and belly 
straight ; ribs round and springing out well ; shoulder flat, but projecting 
at the point. 

Hips and rump wide ; the tail set on level with the rump, and the car- 
cass large ; the legs are rather short and fine. 

The cows are not good milkers ; they are often uneasy in the pasture, 
and as before stated, unquiet in temper. 

They have been, some of them, imported to the United States and 
even exhibited and sold as Devons. 

This description of the Sussex is given for this reason : Those who 
buy Devons should be careful that they have no stain of this blood ; 
in other words, their pedigree should be perfect. 

Short-Horned Breeds. 

The Short-Horn breeds of England are represented by the Durham, the 
Yorkshire, the Lincolnshire, the Teeswater and the Holderness breeds. 



638 



ILLUSTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




CATTLE SHORT-HORNS. 538 

The Yorkshires and Lincohishires are now but little known, being super- 
seded by the improved breed now. generally known and recognized by 
the name of Short-Horn, or the crosses thereof. 

Their characteristics were those in a modified degree of the old Dur- 
ham and Teeswater cattle. 

Short-Horns Proper. 

The only representation of this class worthy of notice here, are the 
descendants of the old Durham or Teeswater cattle, which have existed 
in the counties of Durham and York, from the earliest historical periods. 
These uniformly had short horns, Avere of large size, and were extra- 
ordinary milkers. 

As to their characteristics, they were thin-skinned ; sleek-haired ; 
rather delicate in constitution ; not mellow to the touch ; coarse in oft'td ; 
defective in girth forward ; slow to fatten ; the meat inferior, and often 
of a dark hue. 

Excellence in the aptitude of the Short-Horns of latter years to fatten, 
early maturity, and mellowness of hide, go back almost one hundred 
and fifty years, when the Shoi't-Horns, on the banks of the river Tees, 
(and hence called the Teeswater breed), began to assume the distinctive 
characteristics of the Short-Horns of a later period. 

Short-Horn History. 

Whatever may have been the origin of the cattle from which have 
descended the present race of Short-Horns, it is not of moment here. It 
is enough to know that they had been for many generations bred suf- 
ficiently pure to establish certain characteristics that attracted the most 
eminent breeders of the day. 

Among the breeders of the latter part of the last century, and the 
early part of the present century, were the Collings, (Charles and 
Robert), Sir Henry Vane, Col. John Trotter, and Mr. Mason. 

In the early years of the present century, Mr. John Stevenson, Mr„ 
Bates, and Mr. Booth, each became celebrated for the eminence of their 
animals. Earl Spencer also acquired a great reputation, as the possessor 
of extraordinary animals, and for prices received by himself and Mi. 
Bates. 

Since the death of the latter gentleman in 1849, Short-Horns have 
steadily increased in price for fashionably bred animals, running far into 
thousands of dollars, of late years, for a single animal, while those not 
so fashionably bred were equally sought at prices that would have seemed 
large fifty or sixty years ago. 



540 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Below may be found an outline representation of a fat Short-Horn cow 

It will be observed that this animal carries great size, a square body of 

^eat substance, while the legs are sufficient for locomotion, although 

Lm the fullness of the carcass they seem short, and tha there is abund- 

ancTof meat in the prime parts, including the thighs, which carry their 




fullness well down to the hocks. It will be seen that she is characterised 
by massiveness, smoothness, and that she shows the appearance of carry- 
i4 light offal. The brisket is deep, the udder small, but compact, and 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 541 

extending well forward. The rump is smooth, but broad, and without 
patchiness — that is, great lumps of fat standing out like blubber. The 
hips are broad and well covered with flesh and fat ; and the loins, and 
indeed the whole top, exceptionally good. In fact, she is an ammal 
carrying beef all over, w%ere flesh may be laid on, and full of fat inside. 
She is a grand representative of the breed, and one that may be fattened 
to a great weight. 

Short-Horns in America. 

Mr. Allen, the editor of the American Short-Horn Herd Book on 
American cattle, from a very exhaustive research of importations in 
relation to the introduction of this most valuable breed into the United 
States, says : 

Soon after the termination of the Revolutionary war with England, a 
few cattle supposed to be pure Short Horns, were brought into Virginia 
by a Mr. Miller. These were said to be well fleshed animals, and the 
cows remarkable for milk, giving as high as thirty-two quarts in a day. 
Some of the produce of these cattle, as early as 1797, were taken into 
Kentucky by a Mr. Patton, where, as little was known of "breeds," 
they were called, after the gentleman who brought them, the "Patton 
stock." They were well cared for, and made a decided improvement in 
the cattle of the "blue grass country," where they were first introduced. 
Some of this early Virginia stock also went out to the ' ' south branch of 
the Potomac," in that State, a fine grazing country, which, fifty j^ears 
ago, was famous for its good cattle. In the year 1796, it is said that an 
Englishman, named Heaton, brought two or three Short Horn cattle from 
the north of England to New York. They were taken to Westchester 
county, near by, and bred, but no results, in pure blood, have been 
traced to them. 

In 1815-16, a Mr. Cox, an Englishman, imported a bull and two 
heifers into Rensselaer county, New York. These were followed in 1822 
by two bulls, imported by another Englishman named Hajaie. Descend- 
ants from this Cox stock were said to be bred pure, and afterwards 
crossed by Mr. Hayne's bulls. The stock now exists in considerable 
numbers and of good quality, in that and adjoining counties. 

In 1817 Col. Lewis Sanders, of Lexington, Kentucky, made an 
importation of three bulls and three heifers from England. They were 
of good quality and blood, and laid the foundation of many excellent 
herds in that State. In 1818, Mr. Cornelius Cooledge, of Boston, 

Massachusetts, imported a yearling heifer, — "Flora" — and a bull 

"Cicero" — ^into that city, from the herd of Mr. Mason, of Chilton, in 



542 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the county of Durham, England. These were carefully bred, and many 
of their descendants are now scattered throughout several States. About 
the same year Mr. Samuel Williams, then a merchant in London, but a 
native of Massachusetts, sent out a bull — "Young Denton" — and some 
cows of the same and later importations, and their descendants are still 
numerous among well bred Short Horns of the j)resent day. 

The same year, Mr. Gorham Parsons, of Brighton, Massachusetts, 
imported a Short Horn bull — "Fortunatus" — bred by Geo. Faulkner, 
of North Allerton, Yorkshire, England. He was used considerably on 
the native cows of his State, but we have never traced any thorough-bred 
pedigrees to him. 

In 1820, Mr. Theodore Lyman, of Boston, Massachusetts, imported a 
bull, which he sold to Israel Thorndike, of that city, and he sent him to 
his farm in Maine. Of his produce we hear nothing. 

About the year 1820, and during a few years succeeding, several 
spirited gentlemen of Boston, and its neighborhood, imported a number 
of cows and bulls from some of the best herds in England. They were 
Messrs. Derby, Williams, Lee, Prince, Monson, and perhaps others. 
These were all fine cattle, and of approved blood in the English Short- 
Hom districts. Their descendants are still numerous in New England, 
and some other States. 

About the year 1823, the late Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the British 
navy, a native of Massachusetts, sent out a cow — "Anabella" — and a 
bull — "Admiral" — as a gift to the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. 
They were good animals, and bred with the other Massachusetts impor- 
tations. 

Shortly previous to 1821, the late John S. Skinner, of Baltimore, 
Maryland, imported for Governor Lloyd, of that State, a bull — " Cham- 
pion" — and two heifers — "White Rose" and "Shepherdess" — from the 
herd of Mr. Champion, a noted English breeder. From these, several 
good animals descended, some or which are now known. 

In 1823, Mr. Skinner also imported for the late Gen. Stephen Van 
Rensslger, of Albany, New York, a bull — "Washington" — and two 
heifers — "Conquest" and "Pansey" — from the same herd of Mr. 
Champion. Conquest did not breed ; Pansey was a successful breeder, 
and many of her descendants are now scattered over the country. 

During the years 1822 to 1830, the late Mr. Charles Henry Hall, of 
New York, imported several Short-Horn bulls and cows, from some of 
the best English herds . Several of these he sold to persons in the neighbor- 
hood of that city, soon after they arrived, and others he sent to his farm 
in Rensselaer county, near Albany, and there bred them. Their descend- 
ants are now scattered through several good herds. 




GRADE SHORT HORN TRIPLETS. 

Fine specimens of Grade Short Horn Steers, and remarkable as being triplet brothers. 
I, "Tom ;" 2, " Dick;" and 3, " Harry." Exhibited at the Centennial Ex- 
hibition, 1876. Photographed from life by SCHREIBER & Sons. 



CATTLK, SIIOin-JlOHNS 



543 



cm. 



' ^ rii,.. iMiiiiiiii,;; 



W\ l!|H!l!l!il'il>i|ii 'lii,!,, 




544 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In 1824 the late Col. John Hare Powell, of Philadelphia, Pa., com- 
menced importations, and for several years continued them with much 
spirit and judgment. His selections were principally from the herds of 
Jonas Whitaker, of Otley, in Yorkshire, England. He bred them assid- 
uously at his fine estate at Powelton, near the city, and sold many to 
neighboring breeders, and to go into Ohio and Kentucky, where many of 
their descendants still remain. 

About the year 1828, Mr. Francis Rotch, then of New Bedford, Mass., 
selected from the herd of Mr. Whitaker, and sent to Mr. Benj. Eodman, 
of New Bedford, a bull and three heifers. They were afterwards sold to 
other breeders, and their descendants are now found in several excellent 
herds. 

In the year 1833, the late Mr. Walter Dun, near Lexington, Ky., im- 
ported a bull and several valuable cows from choice herds in Yorkshire, 
England. He bred them with much care, and their descendants are now 
found in many good western herds. 

But the first enterprise in importing Short-Horns upon a grand sca;le 
was commenced in 1834, by an association of cattle breeders of the Scioto 
Valley, and its adjoining counties, in Ohio. They formed a company, 
with adequate capital, and sent out an agent, who purchased the best cattle 
to be found, without regard to price, and brought out nineteen animals in 
one ship, landed them at Philadelphia, and drove them to Ohio. Further 
importations were made by the same company, in the years 1835 and 1836. 
The cattle were kept and bred together in one locality, for upwards of 
two years, and then sold by auction. They brought large prices— $500 
to $2,500 each — and were distributed chiefly among the stockholders, who 
were among the most extensive cattle breeders and graziers of the famous 
Scioto Valley. 

In 1837-8-9, importations were made into Kentucky, by Messrs. James 
Shelby and Henry Clay, Jr., and some other parties, of several well- 
selected Short-Horns, some of which were kept and bred by the importers, 
and the others sold in their vicinity. 

In 1837-8-9, Mr. Whitaker, above mentioned, sent out to Philadelphia, 
on his own account, upwards of a hundred Short-Horns, from his own 
and other herds, and put them on Col. Powell's farm, where he sold them 
at auction. They were purchased at good prices, mostly by breeders from 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, and distributed widely through those 
States. 

From 1835 up to 1843, several importations of fine stock were made 
by Mr. Weddle, an English emigrant, to Rochester, N. Y., and by Amer- 
ican gentlemen, among whom were Messrs, E. P. Prentice, of Albany, 
N. Y., Mr. James Lenox and Mr. J. F. Sheaffe, of New York city, 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 



545 



Messrs. LeRoy and Newbould, of Livingston county, the late Peter A. 
Remsen, of Genesee county, N. Y., and Mr. Whitney, of New Haven, 
Ct., Mr. Gibbons, of New Jersey, and some others, not now recollected, 
—•all valuable animals. They were bred for some years by their owners, 




with much care. Mr. Prentice, for several years, had a large and excellent 
herd on his home farm. After some years all these herds were sold and 
widely distributed. Their descendants still remain among our valuable 
herds. • 



546 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 

In the year 1849-50, Col. J. M. Sherwood, of Auburn, and Mr. Ambrose 
Stephens, of Batavia, N. Y., imported from the herd of Mr. Bates a "bull, 
and from Mr. Jno. Stephenson, of Durham, England, three bulls and 
several heifers, all choice animals, and successfully bred them during 
several years. The stock became widely distributed, and well known among 
stock dealers. 

About the year 1839, Mr. George Vail, of Troy, N. Y., made an im- 
portation of a bull and heifer, purchased of Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirk 
leavington, the first cattle from that particular herd which had been intro- 
duced into the State. A few years later, he purchased and imported 
several more cows from the herd of Mr. Bates, crosses of his "Duchess" 
and other families. He bred them Avith success and widely distributed 
their blood. Mi*. Vail made a final sale of his herd in the year 1852. 

A period of some years now occurred, in which few more, if any, 
Shoi1>Horns were imported. Cattle, as well as all kinds of agricultural 
produce, were exceedingly low ; but as things grew better, the demand 
for "blood" cattle revived, and the spirit for their breeding was renewed. 
Mr. Thomas Bates, a distinguished Short-Horn breeder in England, died 
in 1849. His herd, fully equal in quality to any in England, was sold in 
1850. The choicest of them — of the "Duchess" and "Oxford" tribes- 
fell mostly into the hands of the late Lord Dacie, at Fortworth Park, 
already the owner of a noble herd, to which the Bates stock was added. 
He was a skillful breeder, and of most liberal spirit, and during the brief 
time he held them the reputation of the Bates stock, if possible, increased. 
Within three years from the time of the sale of Mr. Bates' herd, Lord 
Dacie died. In 1853, peremptory sale of his stock was widely advertised. 
Allured by the reputation of his herd, several American gentlemen went 
over to witness it. The attendance of English herders was very large, 
and the sales averaged higher prices in individual animals than had been 
reached since the famous sale of Charles Colling, in 1810. Mr. Samuel 
Thorne, of Duchess county, N. Y., bought several of the best and highest 
priced animals, of the "Duchess" and "Oxford" tribes, and added to 
them several more choice ones, from different herds. Messrs. L. G. 
Morris, and the late Noel J. Becar, of New York, bought others of the 
"Duchess", and "Oxfords," to which they added more from other 
choice herds. These were all brought over here, and bred. Mr. Ezra 
Cornell, of Ithaca, and Mr. James O. Sheldon, of Geneva, N. Y., soon 
afterwards made some importations, and obtained some of the "Bates" 
blood also. The late Gen. James S. Wadsworth, and other gentlemen of 
the Genesee Valley, N. Y., also made importations. These "Bates" 
importations have since been bred so successfully hj their holders here, 
that several young bulls and heifers, bred by Mr. Thorne and Mr. Shel- 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 



547 



don have been purchased by EngHsh breeders, and sent over to them at 
good pnces, where they are highly valued. 




iJ^ ^^l^~^' '^^^'^^ 'P'"*'"^ companies were formed in Clinton, Mad- 
ison, and other ^counties in Ohio, and in Bourbon, Fayette, and 



some 



648 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



other counties of Kentucky, and made importations of the best cattle to 
be found in the English herds, and after their arrival here, distributed 




among their stockholders. Mr. R. A. Alexander, of Kentucky, also, 
during those years, made extensive importations of choice blood for his 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 549 

own breeding, so that in the year 1856, it may be said that the United 
States possessed, according to their numbers, as valuable a selection of 
Short-Horns as could be found in England itself. 

Keeping pace with the States, a number of enterprising Canadians, 
since the year 1835, among whom may be named the late Mi'. Adam Fer- 
gusson, Mr. Homtt, Mr. Wade, the Millers, near Toronto, Mr. Frederick 
Wm. Stone, of Guelph, and Mr. David Christie, of Brantford, in Canada 
West, and Mr. M. H. Cochrane and others, in Lower Canada, have made 
sundry importations of excellent cattle, and bred them with skill and 
spirit. Many cattle from these importations, and their descendants, 
have been interchanged between the United States and Canada, and all 
may now be classed, without distinction, as American Short-Horns, 

Short-Horns in the West. 

In the Northwestern States the first importation of Short-Horns direct 
from England was by the Illinois Importing Company, in 1858. This 
was an association of gentlemen, a part of them members of the State 
Board of Agriculture, in connection with prominent breeders of the 
State. They returned in July of the same year with twenty Shoi't-Horn 
cows and seven bulls, of approved blood, which were sold at auction on 
August 27th, at Springfield, to breeders throughout the State. They 
also brought over two stallions, three Cots wold rams, nine ewes, four 
Southdown rams, eight Southdown ewes, five Berkshire boars, four 
Berkshire sows, and ten boars and sows of Irish breeds ; also Cumber- 
land and Yorkshire boars and sows. From this time oh, various States in 
the West have taken up the breeding of Short-Horns as they have 
increased in wealth and population, until now no finer herds can be 
found in any other locality ; and, the fact that at the New York Mills 
sales individual animals brought prices all the way to over $30,000, for 
exportation to England — prices which before this time would have been 
considered fabulous — shows conclusively that Short-Horns, as bred in 
the United States, have not suffered in comparison with those bred in 
their native land. No such prices were ever reached before in any 
country in the world ; nor have they been since. To-day they are found 
whferever civilization extends. As beef producers they have no superiors ; 
as milk producers there are families eminent in this respect, and they have 
left their impress upon the stock of the country wherever introduced. 

Short-Horns for the Dairy. 

It has been held that the Short-Horns are as good for milking as they 
are for beef. That they once were most excellent dairy cows there is no 



550 ILLUSTRATED .srO(;K OOCTOK. 

doubt. That American Short-Horns of the present are not, as a class, 
even decent milkers, there is as little doubt. The early importations of 
Short-Horns were of the milking strains. For the last thirty j^ears, 
however, they have been bred with such special reference to beef points 
and early maturity that it is now difficult to tind a decent milker in any 
of the more fashionable strains of blood, and very many of the cows 
will not give milk enough to properly raise a calf. Once in a while, 
however, a very superior milking animal appears, showing, by reversion, 
what the capabilities of the breed might be in this direction. 

That the early importations of Short-Horns were uniformly good in 
this direction, as well as admirable beef cattle there is no doubt. That 
they have left their impress upon the native cattle in this direction is 
unquestioned. That they exist to some extent in England and America, 
in particular herds, is certain. We have seen them here and know they 
are there. They have grown less, year by year, as the improvement of 
other dairy breeds became more and more manifest, until of late years 
little has been claimed for them as milkers. Their great value as early 
maturity beef makers, — attaining great weight — having superceded their 
purely milking characteristics. Among the better milkers may be named 
the descendants of the "Patton breed," the " seventeens," or the im- 
portation of 1817, and some descendants of the Ohio importation of 
1834. In fact, this latter importation was made solely with a view to 
beef and flesh points, and since this time milk has been ignored by the 
more fashionable breeders both in England and America. 

Short-Horns for Beef. 

Throughout the whole West, especially, beef was the object sought. 
The land was cheap, fertile, and the pastures flush. Until within the last 
few years, butter and cheese was not an exportable product, beef was. 
It is not strange that a class of animals was sought that would produce 
the most beef in the least possible time. How this has been developed, 
the great herds of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and later, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kan- 
sas, give ample proof. 

In breeding there are no superior cattle in the world. Their usefulness 
as beef producers will continue to grow with the settlement of the country. 
The value of the bulls for crossing upon the ordinary stock of the country 
is becoming more and more appreciated every year. It will continue to 
be an increasing integer for many years to come. 

On the next page, as showing a modern bred Short-Horn bull, combi- 
ning excellent beef points, with great stamina and constitution, we givo 
an illustration of ' ' Hiawatha . ' ' 



CATTLE, SIKJirr-IK^ItNS. 



551 



The modern Short-Hora has great thickness of carcass, squarish-rotund 
shape, rapid growth, early maturity, and a ripeness at two, three, four, 
or five years, that is attained by no other breed. Many are also the hand- 




somest cattle to look at of any known breed — weight, substance and style 
being taken into consideration. There is a wonderful fullness in the 
carcass, extending to every part. The choice flesh is put on in part* 



552 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



where ordmary cattle fa,l ; the offal is exceptionally light, as Ught a, h 
would be among common native cattle of two-thirds the weight In the 
m,lk.y,eldmg Short-Horns there is a tendency to leanness Many Z 




lighter before, flatter in the side, but yet exceedingly firm all over from 

: sir ''"""'"''"■ '" '"^ "'"' """"■''^ '"^"'"'^ ^ rotunrSunl 
* smoothness, a niajestv, no where el^e seen. 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 553 

As showing beef in the Short-Horn cow, in an eminent degree, we give 
a portrait of the cow "Kosamond," showhig not only good beef points 
but milking qualities as well. 

Points of Short-Horns Described. 

The points of Short-Horns — and which will apply in judging all beef 
animals, with slight variations, to be hereafter described — are worthy of 
a somewhat minute description. The points are of two classes — those 
observed with the eye and those felt by the touch. By the eye one 
observes the general contour of the animal ; size, length, breadth, thick- 
ness, fineness of body, head and limb ; the loin, back, thigh, the spring 
of the rib and the manner in which the animal is ribbed up close to the 
hip bones. The touch — that is, the feeling under the touch — shows 
length and quahty of the hair, thickness and elasticity of the sldn. The 
eye and expression of countenance is indicative of disposition and tem- 
per. An elastic, mellow and yet firm hide, of medium thickness, is an 
indication of well marbled flesh, while a floating, soft skin will indi- 
cate blubbery fat, and often dark colored flesh. 

The Butcher's Profit. 

The butcher in buying an animal for beef has now-a-days but a single 
object in view — ^the animal that will turn out the greatest amount of lean 
meat in the prime parts, with the least offal, and only a moderate amount 
of fat ; for fat is now one of the cheapest portions of the animal. Years 
ago, in the days of tallow candles, the reverse was the case. The back, 
loin, and ribs are the choice bits ; next the rump and thigh ; then the 
shoulders ; while the neck and head are comparatively worthless. The 
sagacious breeder, while keeping this constantly in view, seeks to add 
early maturity to good flesh. He who comes nearest to this has the best 
animal, whatever the breed, or the pedigree of the particular breed. The 
butcher's block is the final, the crucial test. 

A description of the points of the Short-Horn was so carefully and 
admirably given by Dr. A. C. Stevenson, President of the Indiana Short- 
Horn Breeders' Association, at the first convention thereof, that we 
append a synopsis, accompanied with an outline of a Shoi-t-Horn, to 
which reference can be made, illustrating the principal points. 

In this it will be seen that a, b, c, d,f, h, m, j, k, x, y, z, represent the 
inferior parts ; from the girth j9, back, including r, s, t, u, v, the superior 
parts. From this it will be easy to understand the points and the 
respective numbers as given in the scale. 

The Head. 
**The head should be small." This is a very imperfect description of 



654 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



the head, but in too many accounts, all that is given. If the size of the 
head were all that was of (consequence, a pound difference in any case 




Points op Shokt-IIorn Bull. 
would be of little consequence in the sale of a bullock. It is the form 
of the head that becomes of so much interest to the breeder. The head 
above the eyes should be wide, giving space for large cerebral develop- 
ment. The intelligence of the animal depends upon a well-developed 
brain and nervous system ; upon which, also, so much depend the vigor- 
ous and healthy action of the organs of digestion and assimilation ; the 
circulation and the vital functions generally ; the intelhgence and temper 
of a cow depends much upon a w^ell-developed brain. It will be found 
by observation that most vicious beasts have small upper heads, and are 
large below the eyes. Again, the upper head should be wide, to give 
width to the articulations of the lower jaw. It is necessary that the part 
of the mouth where the food is to be masticated should be large, that the 
supplies required for the stomach may be well masticated and re-mastica- 
ted in chewing the cud. There is another reason for width at the base of 
the head and between the angles of the lower jaw : it is here that the 
very important passages have their entrance, which supply food for the 
stomach and air for the lungs. Close at hand, also, is the important con- 
nection of the spinal marrow and the brain, to say nothing of many large 
and important blood-vessels that find their way to the head. These con- 
siderations we think conclusive as to the necessity of size of head. 

The portion below the eyes, the face, should be comparatively small. 
Its principal office is to gather food and air. Thin lips and elastic 
nostrils are wanted. The eyes should be large, bright and lively, and yet 
quiet. The physiognomy of the ox is as clearly indicative of his character 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 555 

as that of a man is written uijon his face ; and the reason that less is 
indicated in the face of an ox is because he has fewer vices, and has been 
guilty of fewer transgressions. A small dark eye, set in a dark circle, 
with a large face below and a narrow head above, will indicate an animal 
that is bad tempered, wild, and consequently a poor feeder. The circle 
around the eye should be of a bright yellow color, the nose the same. 
These considerations may seem trifles, yet this color is the result of a pe- 
culiar secretion, and the inference is a jjrobable one, at least, that other 
secretions will be apt to resemble it in color. 'Hence, the secretion of 
milk will be apt to resemble it in color, and a bright colored flesh is be- 
tokened by these peculiar secretions as indicated in the color of the nose 
and circles about the eyes. As a very large ear mostly indicates sluggish- 
ness, one of medium size is preferable. A bullock of fine organization 
will manifest very clearly his impressions by the movement of his ears. 
If he flees from danger his ears are erect, or a little inclined backward, 
that he may be the better warned of danger behind. If he is in haste to 
meet a kind master, who is bringing him a desired meal, the ear is pre- 
sented forward. The horns should be clear, without black tips or any 
black marks whatever — some say of a waxy color, some again, claim that 
they should be flat in Short-Horns. But these matters are, most of them, 
non-essentials. We dismiss the head, after attaching it to the neck in its 
proper position — not at right angles, but at an angle of so many degrees 
that, with the under part of the neck it forms an arch. This gives a 
better throat and a freer passage for the food and air to the stomach and 
lungs, and is graceful withal. 

The Neck. 

The neck expresses very much less to the breeder than the head 
and face. The neck should be just long enough to enable the taking of 
food easily from the ground. It should be strong and well muscled upon 
its sides, covering at its base the points of the shoulders well, and at its 
junction with the head it should be small and round, with its skin fitting 
it pretty much as a well-fitting stocking does the leg — the under fine of 
the neck with the under line of the jaw. A thin, broad neck is sure to 
indicate weakness and poor feeding and fattening quaUties. Animals 
having such may well be avoided as breeders. 

Contour of the Body. 

The butcher, the breeder and the stock dealer, may now meet 
and consult profitably on the general contour of the body. Here the 
opinions of the former may be adopted, as he fixes the price of all 
♦butchers' stuff.' The ox of given weioht that will sell for most in mar- 



;:556 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

•ket possesses the points that must be adopted. These points are now, 
however, .well established, and we have only to refer to them and notice 
the reasons on which they are founded. We proceed to name them be- 
fore we give their rationale. In general contour the body should be 
nearly a square. The crops should be wide. The line of the back should 
be straight ; the hne of the belly nearly so, swelling a little behind the ribs ; 
the flank low ; the ribs barrel-shaped ; the loins wide, and the rump long 
and wide ; the back should be wide, and the thigh should be long and 
wide ; the legs short and comparatively small, or at least not coarse ; 
tail hght ; hair soft and fine. The color should be red or white, or a 
mixture of the two, as roan or pied. 

As has already been said, the body should be nearly a square. The 
vital currents moving in short lines are more effective than when moving 
in those of great length. The blood moving from the heart along very 
extended channels, flows with much less force as it recedes from the 
cause that set it in motion. The same is probably true of the nervous 
currents. The great vitalizing organs are located near the center of the 
system — a provision of nature by which the vital currents are shorter 
than under any other arrangement. Here is the heart sending out its 
gi'eat currents of arterialized blood in all directions, to supply and 
nourish all the members of the body. Sitting over it is that wonderful 
air machine, the lungs, receiving the entire venous currents — an atmos- 
pheric bath — by which they are so renovated and changed as to make 
the blood again fit for the heart's use, to which it is returned by the 
shortest possible route. These organs lie encased together, and never 
cease their operations night or day. But just here in this great center is 
another great vitalizer of fully equal importance — -the stomach. Here 
the food is received and changed into chyle, which is at once thrown into 
the circulation, where its office of supplying the system is performed. 
$[ow, the nearer a body is compacted around these great vitalizing 
systems the more effectual will be the supplies. Observation fully 
sustains these views. A very lengthy bullock never fattens so readily as 
a short one. The breeds of hogs vidth long bodies are known not to 
fatten so readily as those of short, square forms, as the Siamese and 
Chinese. The same is true of sheep, and also of the horse. And even 
in man, we rarely find a corpulent man who will measure six feet. 
Obesity will generally be found under six feet. Health and vigor is 
equally confirmed by observation, as a result of the square structure. 
Longevity may also be claimed with the greatest propriety for the same 
proportions. A bullock with a square frame will be sure to possess all 
the qualities of health and vigor, and >vill feed and fatten as well or 
better than a louo: one. 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 557 

Broad in the Crops. 

The animal broad in the crops has a better back ; but it is also 
evidence of a better rib beneath the shoulder-blade, giving greater width to 
the chest within, and consequently greater play to the lungs. This position 
of the shoulder-blade enables the legs to be brought more gracefully 
under the chest beneath. There are some beasts whose fore-legs stand 
so wide apart that they very much resemble two sticks stuck into a larga 
pumpkin. Such animals are considered awkward and inconvenient at least. 

The Back Should be Straight and Broad. 

A broad back affords valuable roasting bits, and will be the delight of the 
butcher. The straight back affords a better spinal column, and gives the 
proper space to the cavities beneath, which, as we have just seen, are 
occupied by the most important organs. A straight line also gives to the 
ribs a more graceful as well as more convenient attachment. 

Ribs Should be Barrel-Shaped. 

The ribs rising well from the spine, giving to the body a round or 
barreled shape, gives much more room to the organs within — the iieart 
and lungs— than there would be if the ribs descended in such a manner 
as to give a flat side. A beast with flat sides, and consequently a narrow 
throat, will lack greatly in vigor and health, and all the essential qualities 
that constitute a good bullock. A bad rib gives poor space to the 
abdominal organs which lie immediately behind those of the chest, unless 
the belly is greatly sagged, which is generally the case. 

The Loin Should be Wide. 

This is an interesting point to those who love choice bits and are willing 
to pay well for them. The butcher makes large estimates here, and is 
sure to suit liberal purchasers. But nature is ever true to herseK, for 
here, as elsewhere, beneath a broad loin she has provided large space for 
important organs, as the bowels, kidneys, and the organs of the pelvis. 
The rump of a good Short-Horn is a very nice point. The back should 
extend out straight to the setting on of the tail. The thigh should pass 
up to this point nearly straight, so as to make the junction a right angle. 
This point, in many beasts, will be found to be a circle, which is unsightly 
and causes a loss of prime beef. 

The Legs. 

The legs should be short. There are precisely the same reasons for 



558 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. . 

objecting to long legs that there are to long necks or long bodies. Obser- 
vation proves a leggy animal to be not so good a feeder as one with short 
limbs. The bone of the leg should be fine and smooth, and not too large. 
The legs should stand well under the animal, and the hocks directly in line 
with the body, so that in moving, the hocks will be well separated, or 
about as far apart as the hind feet. The fore-legs should be straight and 
stand well under the chest, that the animal may have an easy and free 
movement. The inner side of the fore-legs, as it passes the sternum, 
presents a beveled appearance, to bring the limbs to their proper position 
beneath. Upon the proper position of the limbs depends that ease and 
gracefulness with which a bullock should move. It may be thought of no 
consequence how a bullock moved so that he is able to get to the market, 
but be assured there is much in it, it evinces strength and health, which 
are indispensable in feeding. I have seen Short-Horns carrying two 
thousand pounds and upwards, with limbs so perfect that their movements 
were as nimble as if they were carrying but a thousand. 

The Touch. 

By this the butchers ascertain beforehand the quality of the flesh. By 
it the breeder ascertains the aptitude to fatten as well as the quality and 
quantity of flesh that the animal will carry. 

Of all the qualities of the ox, this is probably the most difficult to 
understand. It is the peculiar sensation of softness and elasticity that is 
produced by the pressure of the hand on different parts of the body. 
This sensation depends, in part, upon a large cellular development 
beneath the skin and between the muscles, and part upon the muscular 
structure, adapting itself to the laborious duties it has to perform. It 
is, therefore, to the cellular and muscular tissue that this sensation of 
touch is to be attributed. It is very common to find a softening of the 
muscular fibre as an accompaniment or a precursor of disease that may 
mislead. The same may be obsei-ved in the aged of both man and beast. 
What is 'touch,' or what is it to 'handle well?' How is it to be distin- 
guished from that which portends bad health and old age? By its elas- 
ticity — ^its power to replace the parts when pressed — a springy sensation. 
Mellowness from disease has a sluggish feel and moves slowly when 
under the hand ; to a less extent, it is true, still something of the same 
that is manifested in the pressure of the fingers on a dropsical limb as 
compared with a healthy one. In the one the indentions replace them- 
selves sluggishly, whilst in the other with a ready elasticity. 

It will require much practice to become an adept in this knowledge. 
Still many useful lessons may be daily had by the examination and hand- 
ling of one's own stock. Comparative handling will afford much 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 559 

assistance. Take those animals that are known to accumulate fat readily 
and largely, as the opossum or the bear, or any other known to take on 
fat readily, and you will find a peculiarly soft and mellow 'touch.' 
Those breeds of swine, as the Chinese or Siamese, that are known to 
accumulate fat largely, as compared with some of the poorer wood 
breeds, will offer good and ready illustrations. But probably the most 
ready illustration will be found in man himself. All that class of persons 
disposed to corpulency will be found to have a soft mellow touch, while 
those disposed to leanness will be found rigid and hard. This may be 
readily recognized in shaldng hands. A very delicate lady may some- 
times be found to have a hard hand as well as a sharp tongue. Smooth, 
soft skin will also be found belonging to this class of persons. 

The Skin. 

The skin should be thick, soft and elastic — fitting alike either a poor 
or fat ox. A lean animal, with an inelastic skin stretched upon him, 
could not fatten for the want of space to expand in. But with an elastic 
skin he may be swelled to great dimensions in what seemed to be but a 
covering for his bones. The skin performs very important functions in 
the animal econoniy. It is not only a covering for all the parts beneath 
it — a protector against cold and heat, and all external causes of danger, 
but it is the seat of a vast system of minute blood vessels and capillaries, 
of exhalents and absorbents. A vast nervous tissue centers here that 
renders the skin sensitive in the highest degree. The great vital worth 
and importance of the sldn may be readily appreciated by any injuries 
done it. The rapidity with which extensive burns destroy life, may 
serve as a sufficient illustration. ' Destroy my skin, and you shall have 
my bones also.' 

The Hair. 

The hair should be thick and fine, forming a protection against inclem- 
encies of weather. It is not sensitive, and is, therefore, a proper shield 
to the whole body, and it is an evidence of the wisdom displayed in the 
creation of this family of the animal kingdom, that its hair — its outer gar- 
ment, against which all injuries must first come — should be without 
sensation — a complete coat of mail, injuries to which cause no pain. 
Fine hair is also an evidence of a finely organized skin, a skin exquisitely 
finished in ite Avhole structure of minute vessels and tissues. A skin thus 
delicately organized is also evidence that other organs are alike con- 
structed. Nature, in all her parts, undoubtedly produces a correspond- 
ence, so that if one part is of a peculiar structure, either fine or coarse, 
other parts are apt to correspond. Parts seen may be considered indica- 



560 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

tive of parts not seen. It may be permitted to add that in all the scrub 
cattle that I have grazed and fed, I have never found one with fine silkj 
hair that did not fatten well and make a desirable bullock. 

Color. 

Short-Horns are red or white, or these colors blended as roan or pied. 
Fashion, for the time, may make one or the other of these colors 
popular. This is probably so now with the red color. It may be so of 
another color in a few years. A caprice that excludes all but the red 
color is injurious. It limits improvement and confines it to a limited 
portion of the breed. It encourages the use of inferior animals just to 
obtain a fashionable color, and rejects better ones because they arc of 
different color. There is, in consequence, great danger of deterioration 
of this noble breed of cattle as a result of such puerile practices. If 
the breed is to be kept up to its past high standard the very best selec- 
tions should be bred regardless of color, provided it is the one peculiar to 
the breed. We would admonish breeders and lovers of this noble race 
of cattle to give no encouragement to such departures ; they are evil» 
and that continually. 

Perfection. 

Both ignorant and cultivated alike ; the ordinary breeder and the scien- 
tific one ; the practical man and the visionary one ; each will establish in 
his own mind an ideal of what any object should be. When this ideal 
is required to stand the test of practical experience, to be defined by a 
scale of points, not one in ten, even among those who think themselves 
competent to establish a standard of excellence can do so, point by point. 
The reason is he has never read, nor has he educated himself in any other 
way to that exactitude of judgment required in matters of such nicety ; 
in other words we have not the scientific idea of what is necessary in the- 
premises ; no absolute rule to goby, and so the whole amounts, after all,, 
to something very like mere guessing. For dairy purposes the udder of 
the cow is the strong point. In animals bred for their flesh, the meat is 
the essential thing and also that it be laid on in the prime parts. 

To enable any person to judge more or less correctly according to the 
study he gives, and the manner in which he has educated his eye and 
touch, we append the scale of points for judging Short-Horns, as found 
in the American Herd-Book. 

In studymg this scale it will do quite well for all beef breeders — always 
bearing in mind the difference in make up of the breed. Thus the Short- 
Horns will be found full in the rump behind, the Devons and Herefords 
more pointed, and essentially different in other respects ; yet these very 




''*m''ttfrtl^'*^'-^fi>»{isi^^ 




SHORT HORN STOCK. 

Fine specimens of the breed of Short Horns. No. i, the celebrated animal, 
the Seventh;" No. 2, the noted ^^25,000 bull, "Star of the Realm. 
Property of A. J. Alexander, Woodburn Farm, Ky. 



Baroness 



I 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 561 

differences constitute their value ; their beef is certainly better than that 
of the Short-Horn ; but still they fail in other particulars. There is nO' 
such thing as absolute perfection in any thing finite. We simply come as 
near it as possible. The Short-Horns, in all their attributes, certainly 
have but little more to be desired as beef makers, and some families, alas 
too few, are deep and excellent milkers. 

Scale of Points for Short- Horn Bulls. 

Points, 

Art. 1. — Purity of breed on male and female side; sire and dam 
reputed for docility of disposition, early maturity and aptitude 
to fatten ; sire a good stock-getter, dam a good breeder ; and 
giving a large quantity of milk, or such as is superior for 
making butter or chsese. _______7 

Art. 2. — Head muscular and fine.; the horns fine and gradually 
diminishing to a point, of a flat rather than a round shape at 
the base, short and inclined to turn up, those of a clear, waxy 
color to be preferred, but such as are of a transparent white, 
and tinged with yellow, admissible ; ears small, thin and cov- 
ered with soft hair, playing quick, moving freely ; forehead 
short, broad, especially between the eyes, and slightly dished ; 
eyes bright, placid, and rather prominent than otherwise, with 
a yellow rim around them ; lower part of the face clean, dished 
and well developing the course of the veins ; muzzle small, nose 
of a clear orange or light chocolate color ; nostrils wide and 
open ; lower jaw thin ; teeth clean and sound. - _ _ 5 

Art. 3. — Neck fine and slightly arched, strongly and well set on the 
head and shoulders, harmoniously widening, deepening and 
rounding as it approaches the latter point ; no dewlap. ~ - 2 

A.RT. 4. — Chest broad, deep and projecting, the brisket on a lower 

line than the belly. ------__5 

Ajrt. 5. — Shoulders broad, strong, fine and well placed; fore-legs 
short, straight, and standing rather wide apart than narrow ; 
fore-arm muscular, broad and powerful, slightly swelling and 
full above the knee ; the bone fine and flat ; knees well knit and 
strong ; foot flat, and in shape an oblong semi-circle ; horn of 
the hoof sound and of a clear waxy color. _ _ _ _ 2 

Art. 6. — Barrel round and deep, and well ribbed up the hips. - 4 

Art. 7. — Back short, straight and broad from the withers to the 
setting on of the tail ; crops round and full ; loins broad ; buckle 
bones on a level with the back ; tail well set, on a level with 
the back, fine and gi'adually diminishing to a point, and hanging 
without the brush an inch or so below the hock, at rijrht angles 
with the back. - - - - - - - __4 



562 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Art. 8. — Hind quarters from the huckle to the point of the rump 
well tilled up ; twist well let down and full ; hind legs short, 
straight, and well spread apart, gradually swelling and rounding 
above the hock ; the bone fine and flat below ; legs not to cross 
each other in walking, nor to straddle behind. _ - _ 3 
Art. 9. — Skin of medium thickness, movable and mellow; a white 
color is admissible, but rich cream or orange much preferable ; 
hair well covering the hide, soft and fine, and if undercoated 
with soft, thick fur in winter, so much the better ; color, pure 
white, red roan, bright red, or reddish yellow and white. (A 
black or dark brown nose or a rim around the eye, black or 
dark spots on the skin and hair decidedly objectionable, and 
indicative of coarse meat and bad blood.) _ _ _ _ 3 

Art. 10. — Good handling. ------- 4 

Art. 11. — Sure stock-getter. _------4 

Art. 12. — Stock, when made steer, certain to feed kindly for beefers 

at any age, and make prime beef. - _ _ _ _ 5 

Art. 13. — General appearance. ------ 2 



Perfection, - - -_-_--. 50 

Scale of Points for Short-Horn Cows. 

Points. 

Art. 1. — ^Purity of breed on male and female side; sire and dam 
reputed for docility of disposition, early maturity and aptitude 
to fatten. Sire a good stock — getter. Dam a good breeder ; 
giving a large quantity of milk, or such superior for making 
butter or cheese. ____----7 

Ani, 2. — Head small and tapering; long and narrower in propC- 
tion than that of the bull. Horns fine and gradually diminish- 
ing to a point ; of a flat rather than of a round shape at the 
base ; short, and inclined to turn up ; those of a clear waxy 
color to be preferred ; but such as are of a transparent white, 
slightly tinged with yellow, admissible. Ears small, thin, and 
well covered with soft hair ; playing quick, moving freeely. 
Forehead of good breadth between the eyes, and slightly dished. 
Eyes bright, placid, and rather prominent than otherwise, with 
a yellow rim round them. The lower part of the face clean, 
dished, and well developing the course of the veins. Muzzle 
small ; nose of a clear bronze, or light chocolate color — the 
former much preferred. Nostrils wide and well opened. Lower 
jaw thin. Teeth clear and sound. _ _ - - - 5 



CATTLE, SHORT-HORNS. 563 

j^RT. 3.— Neck fine and thin, straight, and well set on to the head 
and shoulders, harmoniously widening, deepening, and slightly 
roundino- in a delicate feminine manner as it approaches the 
latter point. No dewlap. ------- 2 

Xrt. 4. Shoulders fine and well placed. Fore-legs short, straight 

and well spread apart. Fore-arm wide, muscular, slightly 
swelling, and full above the knee ; the bone fine and flat below. 
Knees well knit and strong. Foot flat and in the shape of an 
oblong semi-circle. Horn of the hoof sound, and of a clear 
waxy color. ----------2 

Art. 5. — Chest broad, deep and projecting — the brisket on a lower 

line than the belly. - - - - - -- -5 

Art. 6. — Barrel round, deep and well ribbed up to the hips. - 5 

Art. 7. — Back short, strong, straight from the withers to the set- 
tino- of the tail. Crop round and full. Loin broad. Huckle 
bones on a level with the back. Tail well set, on a level with 
the back or very slightly below it ; fine and gradually diminish- 
ino- to a point ; and hanging, without the brush, an inch or so 
below the hock, at right angles with the back. - - - 4 

Art. 8. — Hind quarters from the buckles to the point of the rump 
lono- and well filled up. Twist well let down and full. Hind 
leo"s short, straight and well spread apart ; gradually swelling 
and rounding above the hock ; the bone fine and flat below. 
Foot flat, and in shape of an oblong semi-circle. Horn of the 
hoof sound, and of a clear waxy color. Legs not to cross each 
other in walking, nor to straddle behind. _ _ _ _ 3 

Art. 9. — Udder broad, full, extending well forward along the belly, 
and well up behind. Teats of a good size for the hand ; squarely 
placed with a slight oblique pointing out ; wide apart ; when 
pressed by the hand the milk flowing from them freely. Extra 
teats indicative of good milking qualities, but should never be 
milked, as they draw the bag out of shape. Milk veins large 
and swelling. --_-_-___4. 

Art. 10. — Skin of a medium thickness: movable and mellow; a 
white color is admissible, but a rich cream or orange much pref- 
erable. Hair well covering the hide ; soft and fine, and if 
undercoated with soft, thick fur in the Winter, so much the bet- 
ter. Color pure white, red, roan, bright red, red and white, 
spotted roan, or reddish and yellow and white. (A black or 
dark brown nose, or rim around the eye, black or dark brown 
spots on the skin and the hair decidedly objectionable, and indic- 
ative of coarse meat and bad blood. )----- 3 
36 



564 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Art. 11. — Good handler. 
Art. 12. — Sure and good breeder. 
Art. 13. — General appearance. 
Perfection. 



4 

4 
2 

50 




V. The Alderneys. 

In the British Channel, between Great Britain and France, are a num- 
ber of islands noted for their salubrity of climate and fertility of soil. 
Many years ago these islands, particularly Jersey, were noted for their 



CATTLE, ALUERNEYS. 565 

superior fruit, and large quantities of cider and perry were annually 
made there. 

Of late years these islands, Alderney, Jersey, and Guernsey, have 
become celebrated throughout England and America, for their breed of 
cattle ; the cows of which give milk of unsurpassed richness. 

These cattle are undoubtedly of French origin. The Normandy cattle 
are larger than the Jerseys, and Youatt says, have a greater tendency to 
fatten. He passes them by, in his admirable work on cattle, with 
scarcely more than a mention ; this is to be regretted, since he was so 
careful and conscientious a historian. He says : 

"They are found mainly in gentlemen's parks and pleasure grounds, 
and they maintain their occupancy there, partly on account of the rich- 
ness of their milk, and the great quantity of butter which it yields, but 
more from the diminutive size of the animals. Their real ugliness is 
passed over on these accounts ; and it is thought fashionable that the 
view from the breakfast or drawing room of the house should present an 
Alderney cow or two grazing at a little distance. 

" They are light red, yellow, fawn or dun colored ; short, wild-horned, 
deer-necked, thin, and small-boned ; irregularly and often very 
awkwardly shaped." 

A Prejudiced Statement. 

Quoting from Mr. Parkinson, who, Mr. Youatt says, seems to have 
had a determined prejudice against them, he writes : 

" Their size is small, and they are of as bad a form as can possibly be 
described ; the bellies of many of them being four-fifths of their weight. 
The neck is very thin and hollow ; the shoulder stands up, and is the 
highest part ; they are hollow and narrow behind the shoulders ; the 
chine is nearly without flesh ; the bucks are narrow and sharp at the 
ends ; the rump is short, and they are narrow and light in the brisket." 
Mr. Youatt adds for himself : 

"This is about as bad a form as can possibly be described, and the 
picture is very little exaggerated, when the animal is analyzed, point by 
point ; yet all these defects are so put together, as to make a not unpl eas- 
ing whole." 

Mr. Youatt, however, compliments them with giving exceedingly rich 
milk, and with fattening in a surprising manner when dry. 

We have quoted the above for two reasons : one as showing probably 
what may have been nearer the truth than we might naturally expect 
from seeing the best specimens now, and the other as showing that this 
breed has made a great advancement since his day, both in quantity of 
milk given, and in symmetry and perfection of form. 



566 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Prom an American Standpoint. 



Mr, Lewis F. Allen, the best known historian of American cattle, says: 
" Be2"innin2: with the head — the most characteristic feature — the 
muzzle is fine, the nose either dark brown or black, and occasionally a 
yellowish shade, with a peculiar mealy, light-colored hair running up the 
face into a smoky hue, when it gradually takes the color of the bod}^ ; 
the face is slightly dishing, clean of flesh, mild and gentle in expression, 
the eye clear and full, and encircled with a distinct ring of the color of 
the nose ; the forehead is bold, horns short, curving inward, and waxy 
in color, with black tips ; the ear is sizable, thin, and quick in movement. 
The whole head is original, and blood-like in appearance, more so than in 




A Trio of Jerseys. 

almost any other of the cattle race — reminding one strongly of the head 
of our American Elk. The neck is somewhat depressed — would be 
called ' ewe-necked,' by some — but clean in the throat with moderate, 
or little dewlap ; the shoulders are wide and somewhat ragged, with 
prominent pomts, running down to a delicate arm and slender legs 
beneath ; the fore-quarters stand rather close together, with a thinnish, 
yet well developed brisket between ; the ribs are flat, yet giving sufficient 
play for good lungs ; the back depressed, and somewhat hollow, the belly 
deep and large, the hips tolerably wide, the rump and tail high, the loin 
and quarter medium in length, the thigh thin and deep, the twist wide, to 
accommodate a good sized udder, the flanks medium, the hocks or 
gambrel joints crooked, the hind legs small, the udder capacious, square. 



CATTLE, ALDERNEYS. 567 

set well forward, and covered with soft, silky hair ; the teats fine, standing 
well apart, and nicely tapering; the milk veins prominent." 

Characteristic Colors. 

The colors are mostly light red or fawn, and black, mixed and plashed 
with white ; the solid colors are, we think, generally favored, and, to our 
mind, the best cattle, as showing careful breeding, though we have seen 
the most superior cattle among all these colors. So we have seen some 
distinctly roan,, with round, quite smooth forms, called pure ; they should 
always be avoided, as there is more than a suspicion that such have 
Short-Horn blood in them, which can do this breed no good, but on the 
contrary, harm. 

The breed is distinctly a milk breed, and is of no value whatever 
except as yielding fair messes of exceedingly rich milk — giving largely 
of the most superior cream, producing hard, and most delicately flavored 
butter. Thus any cross on this ancient and carefully bred stock must 
necessarily injure them in the points where they excel other cows. These 
are : Superiority of the milk, cream and butter, golden in color, delicate 
in texture and flavor, and commanding prices in the market, from wealthy 
citizens, that no other make can reach. 

They are Milking Cows. 

Whichever of the three varieties may be chosen, they should be bred 
for this and nothing else. Whether they be from Alderney, Jersey, or 
Guernsey, no infusion of other blood can improve them, neither can they 
improve any other breed. The bulls may improve our native cows, if the 
cows be good milkers, the hereditary milking qualities of the race being 
pre-potent in the progeny. For this improvement, however, none but 
pure blood bulls should be used, and this rule will hold good in all 
breeding. 

The pure animal is pre-potent, the grade is not, and pure bred animals 
of all the superior races are now so plenty that it will not pay to use grade 
bulls for the improvement of stock. 

The Value of Purity. 

To show the value of purity, we will perhaps, find no more appropriate 
place than this. 

A thorough-bred animal upon native stock produces in the first succeed- 
ing generation an animal partaking equally of the blood of the sire and 
dam, or what is called a half-blood. The next generation, or the produce 
of a full-blood and a half-blood will give a three-quarters-bred animal. 



568 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The young of a pure-bred and three-quarters-bred will give a sevei>eighths- 
bred. Following in the same line the next generation will give an animal 
possessing lif teen-sixteenths of pure blood. 

In reality it will be far more than we have stated, for the pre-potent 
element of pure blood, constantly present, will continually be an increas- 
ing integer in the progeny. Hence animals from seven-eighths to fifteen- 
sixteenths-bred, cannot be distinguished from one purely bred, except by 
a most critical, and at the same time expert judge. For all practical pur- 
poses they are fully equal to an animal purely bred, that is to say, as 
dairy cows, but here the comparison must end. A taint of impure blood 
once in, cannot be bred out for many generations — never in fact. There 
is always danger of reversion. One may, theoretically at least, breed 
grades up for a thousand 3^ears, and yet not have purely bred animals. 
Hence the extraordinary prices paid for stock, the pedigrees of which 
have been kept absolutely without taint of admixture, 

The Value of Points. 

So important is the question of symmetry of form, and points of excel- 
lence, in stock, viewed as mtegers in the make-up of an animal — real value 
being adaptation to the necessities required — ^that, of late years, all animals 
are judged thereby. As a study of these we give a figured portrait of a 
model cow, illustrating perfection. 

These points may be adopted in judging any cow, so far as general 
characteristics are concerned, deviations being only in matters of form, 
color, peculiar markings, shape of horns, and general contour. The 
Guernseys, for instance, are larger, somewhat coarser, and have of late 
years been placed in a family by themselves. 

The scale of points given are those adopted by the Royal Jersey Agri- 
cultural and Horticultural Society, in determining the merits of animals 
to be passed upon : 

Scale of Points— Cows and Heifers. 

Po 

1. Head, — small, fine and tapering 

2. Cheek, — small 

3. Throat, — clean 

4. Muzzle, — fine, and encircled by a bright color.'. 

5. Nostrils, — high and open 

6. Horns, — smooth, crumpled, not too thick at the base, and tapering 

7. Ears, — small and thin 

8. Ears, — of a deep orange color within 

9. Eye, — full and placid 

10. Neck,— straight, fine, and placed lightly on the shoulders 

11. Chest, — broad and deep 



CATTLE, ALDERNEY8. 



569 



Points. 

12. Barrel,— hooped, broad and deep 1 

13. Well ribbed home, having but little space between the last rib and the hip. 1 

14. Back,— straight from the withers to the top of the hip I 




ho CO M c^ bO 

o K) t^ o v\ 



15. Back, — straight from the top of the hip to the setting on of the tail, and 

the tail at right angles with the back 1 

16. Tail,— fine 1 



6T0 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

POINTfli 

17. Tail, — hanging down to the hocks 

18. Hide, — thin and movable, but not too loose 

19. Hide, — covered with fine, soft hair 

20. Hide, — of good color 

21. Fore-legs, — short, straight and fine 

22. Fore-arm, — swelling, and full above the knee 

23. Hind-quarters, — from the hock to the point of the rump well filled up. 

24. Hind-legs, — short and straight (below the hocks) and bones rather fine. 
S5. Hind-legs, squarely placed, not too close together when viewed from 

behind 

26. Hind-legs, — not to cross in walking 

27. Hoofs, — small 

28. Udder, — full in form, i. e., well in line with the belly 

29. Udder, — well up behind 

30. Teats, — large, squarely placed ; behind wide apart 

31. Milk-veins, — very prominent 

32. Growth 

33. General appearance 

34. Condition 

Perfection 34 

No prize shall be awarded to cows having less than twenty-nine points. 

No prize shall be awarded to heifers having less than twenty-six points. 

Cows having obtained twenty-seven points, and heifers twenty-four 
points, shall be allowed to be branded, but cannot take a prize. 

These points, namely, Nos. 28, 29, and 31 — shall be deducted from 
the number required for perfection in heifers, as their udder and milk- 
veins cannot be fully developed : a heifer will, therefore, he considered 
'perfect at thirty-one points. 

To this we add : 

One point must be added for pedigree on male side. 

One point must be added for pedigree on female side. 

Again, the size of the escutcheon, or milk-mirrors, is a point of 
especial attention. This, however, will be treated in another chapter, for 
the escutcheon is now coming to be accepted as an indication of the 
milking qualities of a cow, and whatever the breed may be, strongly 
relied upon. And those who discard it, that is, refuse a cow with a strong 
escutcheon, will surely go astray. 

In judging bulls, many of the same points will serve. The head will 
not be so small, and the forehead must be broad ; the horns must be 
tipped with black ; the neck, arched, powerful, but not too coarse and 
heavy ; hide thicker than in the cow — certainly not thin — and mellow ; 
fore legs short and straight, fore arm large and powerful, full above the 
knee and firm below it. As in cows, pedigree must have two points, one 
for purity of blood on the male side, and one for purity of blood on the 
female side. 



CATTLE, ALDERNEYS. 



671 



td 



o 
3 



d 

CO 

H 

w 
>■ 

S CO 




The portrait of a bull given above illustrates the "points" adopted by 
the Royal Jersey Agi-icultural Society, and continued after an experience 
of ten years without alteration. Through it the reader mil easily become 
conversant with the points by which Jersey bulls are judged. By refer- 



572 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

ence to the figures given below, and corresponding in the illustration with 
the points the reader will understand the following 

Scale of Points for Bulls. 

Article. Point8« 

1. Pedigree on male side 

2. Pedigree on female side 

3. Head, — fine and tapering 

4. Forehead, — broad 

5. Cheek, — small 

6. Throat, — clean 

7. Muzzle, — fine and encircled with light color 

8. Nostrils,— high and open 

9. Horns, — smooth, crumpled, not thick at the base and tapering, tipped 

with black 

10. Ears, — small and thin 

11. Ears, — of a deep orange color within 

12. Eyes, — full and lively 

13. Neck, — arched, powerful, but not coarse or heavy 

14. Chest, — broad and deep 

15. Barrel, — hooped, broad and deep 

16. Well ribbed home, having but little space between the last rib and the hip. 

17. Back, — straight from the withers to the top of the hip 

18. Back, — straight from the top of the hips to the setting on of the tail, 

and the tail at right angles with the back 

19. Tail,— fine 

"20. Tail, — hanging down to the hocks 

21. Hide, — thin and movable 

22. Hide, — covered with fine and soft hair 

23. Hide, — of a good color 

24. Fore-legs, — short, straight and fine .^,.. 

25. Fore- ARM, — large and powerful, swelling and full above the knee and 

fine below it 

26. Hind-quarters, — from the hock to the point of the rump long and well 

filled up 

27. Hind-legs, — short and straight (below the hocks) and the bones rather 

fine 

28. Hind-legs, — squarely placed, not too close together when viewed from 

behind 

29. HiND-LEGS, — not to cross in walking 

30. Hoofs, — small 

31. Growth 

32. General appearance 

33. Condition 

Perfection 33 

Judging by Points. 

The highest excellence of any milking cow lies in the udder. This must 
not only be full in form, that is, in line with the belly, but it must not be 
cut off square in front, like that of a goat. It should be rounded, full, 



CATTLE, ALDERNEYS. 



573 



presenting great breadth behind, and carried well up between the thigh. 
The milk veins should be full and carried well forward toward the fore 
legs. If knotted and with curves, so much the better. 

The tail is another essential point. Whatever its size at the root, it 
must be large and tapering, and have a good switch of hair. 

The chest should be broad and deep : this shows good respiration, 
essential to feeding and health. This, however, must not be taken in the 
sense in which we view it in the blood horse. It is then one of the essen- 
dal points, necessary to fast and long continued exertion. 

In the dairy cow, especially when viewed from before, there will be no 
appearance of massiveness. On the contrary, she will give an appearance 
of delicate fineness, and will look large behind, swelling gradually from 
behind the shoulders. She may not be closely ribbed, in fact should not 




Jersey Cow. 



oe close, only comparatively so. The best milkers, every where, will be 
found to be rather loosely put together between the last rib and the hips, 
and good milkers must be roomy in the flank. 

The hind quarters must be long from the point of the rump to the hock, 
and well filled up ; yet this does not mean rounded and massive in flesh ; 
on the contrary, the best milkers mil be rather lean and perhaps high 
boned. Nevertheless, the same animal, when out of milk and fat, may 
fill up, and perhaps, present a fully rounded contour, while yet possessing 
all the deUcacy of points characteristic of the high bred dairy cow. 



574 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



A COW may have large and heavy ears ; her back may not be fully 
straight from the withers to the top of the hips ; her rump may be sloping ; 
her tail may not reach the hocks ; — all these are defects — the latter a se- 
rious one — ^yet, if the milking organs are super-excellent it will outweigh 
all these. 

A phenomenon may show absolute perfection in all the points : we have 
never yet seen such an one. In judging, the essentials are to carefully 
consider each point of excellence with reference to its bearing upon the 
animal as a dairy cow. 

A high open nostril would count but little as against a poor milk vein ; 
a very delicate ear, nothing as against a very superior udder. 

The Jersey, to the uncritical eye, when in full milk, is lean, scrawny^ 
and misshapen ; are so, fat or lean, from the standpoint of a Short-Horn 




Jersey Heifer. 



or Hereford breeder. The Short-Horn, or Hereford, is a gross, lubberly, 
disgusting, mountain of fat in the eyes of a Jersey breeder. 

Color, Temper, and Size. 

Do not be too particular about color ; solid colors, and black points look 
well in the show ring. The animal that will turn out well at the pail^ 
that is docile and gentle, be she what color she may, so long as she ad- 
heres to the distinguishing color-marks of the race, is the one for the 
milking yard. 






JERSEY STOCK. 



Fine specimens of the breed of,'Jersey cattle, celebrated for milk. No. i, Centennial prize 

cow. "Black Bess," owned by CHARLES Sharpless, Esq., Philadelphia; No. 2, 

imported bull, " Billy," owned by Colonel jAMES YOUNG, Middletown, Pa. 



CATTLE, ALDERNEYS. 575 

In relation to size, the Jerseys are a small race of cattle. In no breed 
are overgrown animals the most valuable. With the Jersey it is especially 
to be avoided. So, an undersized animal is not to be countenanced. 
Fair size, however, is desirable. 

He who seeks to increase the size of the Jersey unduly, wall certainly 
go astray. They have been carefully bred, for many generations, with 
especial reference to milk. 

The Jersey is the product of islands peculiar in soil, climate, and people. 
Transplanted to our flush pastures, with good shelter in winter, they vvdll 
necessarily increase in size This is to be expected. 

If you fancy "solid colors," and can get plenty of rich milk, with solid 
colors, well and good. If not, breed to whatever color, characteristic of 
the breed, which will give you this desirable result. 

As a Dairy Cow. 

The Jersey cow can hardly be called a dairy cow, in the general accep- 
tation of the term. She lacks size to give quantity ; as a cheese maker, 
she is not a success ^ as butter makers, they stand without equals, if quality 
be the test. 

The butter globules of the milk are larger, and with a weaker covering 
than in other breeds ; hence it churns quicker than the milk of other cows. 

The milh., oream, and butter, of the Jerseys are yellower than that of 
other brct^<<^)=>. This is due to the excess of orange pigment secreted by 
this breed. 

Jerseys are especially adapted to the villager, or family, requiring a 
medium quantity of rich milk, and superior cream and butter. They have 
taken kindly to our summer climate, from Maine to California. In winter, 
however, and in the early spring and late fall, they should be as carefully 
housed as Short-Horns, else they will fail to give even a moderate degree of 
satisfaction. 

The cowb' are always docile, gentle, and tractable, when properly treated. 
It is not to be denied, however, that the bulls are often vicious. An en- 
thusiastic '^ter has attributed this to their long lineage of aristocratic 
breediny;. The Short-Horns are far more aristocratic in their lineaare of 
ancient sires and dams ; they are also notably peaceable. 

It is a fact that animals kept in confinement are apt to become surly, 
and cross. The breeder of Jerseys must accept the fact that the bulls 
must be kept under strict discipline, and this by the exhibition of both 
firmness, careful handling, and gentleness. Otherwise, they themselves will 
be troublesome, and their offspring also will bear these characteristics. 



676 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

VI Ayrshire Cattle. 

The origin of these cattle cannot be distinctly traced. That Ayrshire^ 
in England, has long been noted for a very superior breed of milking 
cows, is indisputable ; yet anything like what were known as Ayrshires, 
fifty years ago, did not exist one hundred years prior to that time. 

That the present breed was not produced by a cross of Alderney, on 
the native cattle of Scotland, as has been asserted, is evident enough 
from their form and characteristics ; that they were not j)roduced by 
selection, is equally as well grounded. They may have originated in a 
happy cross, and careful breeding thereafter. 

That the Ayrshire owes much of its superiority to crosses of the bet- 
ter milking strains of the old Short-Horn race, would seem to be borne 
out, not only by tradition, but particularly by unmistakable character- 
istics of both these breeds. 

Ayrshire indeed is eminently adapted to the production of superior 
milkino- cows. The climate is moist, ^vith plenty of soft rains ; conse- 
quently, the grasses would naturally be succulent, and tend to produce 
the greatest flow of milk of which a cow might be capable. 

Of the three divisions of Ayrshire — Carrick, Kyle, and Cunningham — 
the latter is regarded as the true home of this most valuable breed. 
Indeed, they once went by the name of Cunningham cattle. 

Ayrshires of the Last Century. 

Mr. Alton, an old English writer, who has written more largely and 
intelligently than perhaps any one else of this breed, has given much val- 
uable information concerning them as they existed in Ayrshire early in 
the last century. Speaking of them, he says : 

' ' The cows kept in the districts of Kyle and Cunningham were dimin- 
utive in size, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and they yielded but a scanty return in 
milk ; they were mostly of a black color, with large stripes of white 
along the chine or ridge of their back, about the flanks, and on their 
faces. Their horns were high and crooked, having deej) ringlets at the 
root, the plainest proof that the cattle were but scantily fed ; the chine of 
their backs stood up high and narrow ; their sides were lank, short and 
thin ; their hides thick, and adhering to the bones ; their pile (sldn) was 
coarse and open ; and few of them yielded more than six or eight quarts 
of milk per day, when in their best plight ; or weighed, when fat, more 
than from twelve or sixteen to twenty stone avoirdupois, sinking offal." 

The Husbandry of Ayrshire, published in 1793, states upon the 
authority of Mr. Bruce Campbell, that the introduction of the improved 
breed was made by the then late Earl of Marchmont, and Mr. Youatt 
thinks that it must have happened between 1724 and 1740. 



CATTLE, AYRSHIRES. 



577 



There then were successive inlroductioiis of improved blood among 
them, the Dunlap strain of Short-Horn about 1780, or one hundred years- 
ago. This breed became well established in reputation, and in the early 
part of the present century became regularly known as Ayrshire, an(f 
was widely disseminated in Ens^land. 




The above likeness is a good one of the improved or modem Ayi> 
shire cow. 

Mr. Aiton describes the breed in its improved form, or as it exLstea 
late in the last century, and early in this, as follows : 



578 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

*'The shapes most approved of, are — head small, but rather long and 
narrow at the muzzle ; the eye small, but smart and lively ; the horns 
small, clear, crooked, and then- roots at a considerable distance from each 
other ; neck long and slender, tapering toward the head, with no loose 
skin below; shoulders thin; fore-quarters light; hind-quarters large; 
back straight, broad behind, the joints rather loose and open ; carcass 
deep, and pelvis capacious, and wide over the hips, with round fleshy 
buttocks ; tail long, and small ; legs small and short, with firm joints ; 
udder capacious, broad and square, stretching forward, and neither 
fleshy, low hung, nor loose ; the milk-veins large, and prominent ; teats 
short, all pointing outward, and at considerable distance from each other ; 
skin thin and loose ; hair soft and woolly. The head, bones, horns, and 
all parts of least value, small ; and the general figure compact and well 
proportioned." 

In this connection, it should always be remembered that the Ayrshire 
cows were always noted for their thighs, and in fact a general thinness of 
body, as compared with beef breeds. The bulls were always selected for 
their feminine appearance, especially about the neck and head ; they were 
not required to be roomy behind ; they were required to be broad in the 
hook bones and hips, and full in the flanks. 

Tameness and docility of temper, hardiness, a sound constitution, 
plenty of spirit and life, and the capability of giving large messes of 
milk, rich in butter and cheese, are noted characteristics of this breed in 
an eminent degree. 

Mr. Youatt says of them: " They yield much milk, and that of an 
oily, or butyraceous, or caseous nature ; and that after she (a cow) has 
yielded very large quantities of milk for several years, she will be as val- 
uable for beef as any other breed of cows known ; her fat will be much 
more mixed through the whole flesh, and she will fatten faster than 
any other." 

As far as milk is concerned, it is true of the Ayrshire of the pres- 
ent day. 

In America, the breed has not yet been sufficiently disseminated to 
determine whether the quality of beef shall be borne out by the state- 
ment of the author quoted. 

Mr. Youatt agrees that the breed has much improved since Mr. Alton 
described it ; that it is short in the leg, the neck a little thicker at the 
shoulder, but finely shaped toward the head ; the horns smaller than 
those of the Highlander, but clear and smooth, pointing forward, turning 
upward, and tapering to the points ; they are deep in the carcass, but not 
round and ample, and especially not so in the loins and haunches. 

Some, however, have suspected, and not without reason, that an atten- 



CATTLE, AYKSHIRES. 579 

tion to the shape and beauty, and attempt to produce fat and sleek cattle, 
which would be admired at the shows, has had a tendency to improve 
Avhat is only their quality as grazing cattle, and that at the certainty of 
diminishing their value as milkers. 

Yields of Milk, Butter, and Cheese. 

Experiments made early in the century, to determine the relative value 
of different breeds for milk and butter, we find as follows : 

"In some experiments conducted at the Earl of Chesterfield's dairy 
at Bradley Hall farm, it appeared that, in the height of the season, the 
Holderness would yield seven gallons and a quart ; the Long-Honi and 
the Alderney, four gallons three quarts ; and the Devon, four gallons one 
pint, per day. When this was made into butter, the result was, fromtht; 
Holderness, thirty-eight and one-half ounces ; from the Devon, twenty- 
eight ounces ; and from the Alderney, twenty-five ounces." 

The Ayrshires average five gallons per day, and from that is produced 
thirty-four ounces of butter. 

This shows the degree of superiority the breed has obtained in Mr. 
Youatt's time. 

Mr. Alton, indeed, asserted that 3 3-4 to 4 gallons of this milk would 
}ield a pound and a half of butter, and that 27 1-2 gallons of milk would 
yield 21 pounds of full milk cheese ; and that Ayrshires in their best con- 
dition and well fed would yield 1,000 gallons of milk in a year. 

With respect to yield in the United States, we have the record that the 
first Ayrshire cow imported by the Massachusetts Society for the Promo- 
tion of Agriculture, in 1837, yielded 16 pounds of butter a ^veek, for several 
weeks in succession, on grass feed only. 

Mr. Eankin, a most reputable English authority, reporting upon a Kjdo 
farm in Ayrshire, holds that Mr. Aiton's estimate is too high. In relation 
to two farms visited, upon one of Avhich was kept from twenty to thirty 
cows, and on the other from tlnrty to forty very superior cows, he says 
of the first, that, "at the best of the season the average milk from each 
cow, is 9 Scots pints (4 1-2 gallons,) and in a year 1,300 Scots pints 
(650 gallons,); that in the summer season, 64 pints (32 gallons,) of 
entire milk will make an Ayrshire stone (24 pounds) of cheese: and 96 
pints (48 gallons) of skimmed milk will produce the same quantity ; and 
that 180 pints (90 gallons) will make 24 pounds of butter." Of the 
other farm, he states that "the average produce of each is 1,375 jDints 
(687 1-2 gallons) ;" and adds as his belief, on the whole, that although 
.there may be Ayrshire cows capable of giving 900 gallons in a year, it 
would be difficult to bring half a score of them together ; and that in stocks 
37 



580 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of the greater number, most carefully selected and liberally fed, from 650 
to 700 gallons is the very highest [)roduce of each in the year. 

Upon his own farm, the size of which, he says, is of an inferior nature, 
his cows produce only 550 gallons in a year 

Ayrshire 8 in America. 

The Ayrshires were first imported to the United States in 1831. They 
were different in appearance from what they are now, the colors being 
either deep red, or brown flecked with white, many of them having black 
noses. They have been materially changed since then, and vary much in 
color. The most of them, however, retain the characteristic colors of the 
breed, and whether they be dark red or black, they are generally more or 
less pied, mottled or blotched with white. 

Mr. Allen, himself a Short-Horn breeder, in his work, "American 
Cattle," sums up the Ayrshires as follows ; 

"Their thirty-six years' trial here has been successful. They are hardy, 
healthy, well fitted to our climate and pastures, and prove good milkers, 
both as to the imported originals and their progeny. Their flow of milk 
is good in quantity and fair in quality ; yet, we must be permitted to say, 
that in this country they do not yield so much in quantity as is alleged 
they have produced in Scotland. The chief reason for this is obvious. 
Ayrshire has a moist climate — an almost continuous drizzle of rains, or 
moisture pervading it — making fresh, green pastures ; a cooler and more 
equable temperature in summer, and it is warmer in Avinter than with us. 

Our American climate is liable to extremes of cold in winter, heat in 
summer, and protracted droughts, for weeks, drying up our herbage. 
These differences alone account for a diminished yield in milk from 
Scotch to the American Ayrshires. They have softer grasses for hay, 
and plenty of root-feeding in winter, which latter we have not. This 
fact of a diminished yield of milk on this side of the Atlantic is acknowl- 
edged by those most conversant with them in both countries. 

In the year 1837, we visited the Ayrshire herd of the late Mr. John P. 
Gushing, at Watertown, near Boston, Mass. They were of the choicest 
quality, imported by himself, on an order sent out to an experienced 
dealer in Ayrshire cattle, "without regard to price, so they are the best.'\ 
Two or three of the cows were "prize" milkers at home, and certificates, 
duly verified, were sent with them of the quantities of milk they had made. 
They had then been a year or more at Mr. Gushing' s farm, and had the 
best of keep. We questioned the manager as to the quantities of milk 
the cows gave since their arrival, compared with the certificate. His. 
answer was, "about one-third less, on an average. The best ^prize' cow 
gave 33 quarts per day when at her maximum in Ayrshire, and 22 quarts 



CATTLE, AYBSHIRES. 681 

here, and the others in about like proportion, but they are all good milkers, 
and Mr. Gushing is satisfied with them." 

We note the fact of the declension in milk of the Ayrshires in this 
country, knowing the same to have occurred with cows of other breeds 
from England. It is nevertheless true, we think, that the milk produced 
here is richer in the constituents, as it is undoubtedly true that cows on 
flush, soft pastures, or those fed on soft, sloppy food, give far poorer 
milk, although more in quantity, than when fed on shorter rich herbage, 
or upon other rich food. 

Ayrshires in the West. 

In the West the Ajnrshires have not gained the celebrity that the 
Jerseys or the Holsteins have. The probability is that the Jerseys owe 
much of their popularity to the fact that they are par excellence the 
family cow, where quality of milk has greater weight than quantity. 
The latter are hard keepers ; that is, they consume a large amount of 
food for the quantity of milk given, and probably more than either the 
Aryshires or Holsteins for the quantity of butter and cheese produced. 
The Jersey must have rich food to enable her to sustain herself. Never- 
theless, the texture, solidity, hardness and delicacy of the butter amply 
compensates for this. The Holstein has grown in favor in the West 
rapidly within the last few years. Our abundant pasture and- cheap 
forage and grain in winter, has made them prime favorites with all that 
class who must have a large quantity of fairly rich milk. As a cow for 
making cheese they are unsurpassed, as is the Jersey for butter. For a 
great flow of milk, rich in butter, our experience is that the Ayrshire 
carries off the palm, especially on pastures not good enough for the 
Holsteins. 

Description of Ayrshire Points. 

In judging cattle of any description, reference must always be had to 
the characteristics of their breed. Thus, while all cattle are judged by 
certain undeviating standards as respects feeding and assimilation, beef 
cattle must be judged from a beef-making standard, and dairy cattle from 
their milk-producing powers. It is more than probable that, weight for 
weight, the Ayrshn-e being a cow of medium size, will produce more 
milk than any other breed. In selection no surer test can be had than a 
careful study of her points. Dr. G. Lewis Sturtevant, of South Fram- 
ingham, Massachusetts, who has given the Ayrshire particular attention, 
and who is one of the most careful farmers and breeders in the East, thus 
describes the Ayrshire, and the same principles may be applied to the 
whole race of dairy cattle. 



582 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Usefulness. 

The usefulness of the dairy cow is in her udder, and toward the udder, 
its shape and its yield, all the capabilities of the cow should be directed. 
We may first view it as a reservoir for the milk. As such, it must be 
large and capacious, with broad foundations, extending well behind and 
well forward, with distinct attachments ; broad and square, viewed from 
behind, the sole level and broad, the lobes even-sized, and teats evenly 
distributed ; the whole udder firmly attached, with skin loose and elastic. 
Such a form gives great space for the secreted milk, and for the lodgment 
of the glands, while allowing the changes from an empty to a full vessel. 
The glands should be free from lumps of fat and muscle, well set up in 
the body when the cow is dry, and loosely covered with the soft and elastic 
skin, without trace of flabbiness. Such a covering allows for extension 
when the animal is in milk, while the glands are kept in proximity with 
the blood-vessels that supply them. The necessities of the lacteal glands 
are larger supplies of blood from which milk can be secreted, and this 
harmonizes with the demands of the udder as a storehouse. For broad 
attachments means broad belly o^ abundance of space for the digestive 
organs, from which all nutriment must originate. The blood is furnished 
to the glands of the udder by large and numerous arteries. As secretion 
is dependent on the freedom of supply of blood to the part, and a copious 
flow, we find branches coming from different arterial trunks and freely 
anastomozing with each other. Although these arteries are internal and 
out of sight, yet fortunately the veins which carry the blood from the 
udder pass along tlie surface, and from their size and other characteristics 
indicate the quantity of blood not only which they carry away, but which 
must have passed through the glands from the arteries. These return 
veins pass both backward and forward. Those passing forward are known 
as the milk veins, and the size of these superficial veins on either side of 
the belly, and the size of the orifices into which they disappear, are excel- 
lent points to determine the milking probability of the cow. Still better 
is it to find, in addition, the veins in the perineum, which also return from 
the udder, prominent and circuitous. 

Escutcheon. 

The escutcheon is now generally conceded to be a good indication of 
milk in the cow. This mark is sufficiently well known not to require de- 
scription in detail. I think a broad escutcheon is fully as good a sign as 
a long one ; that quantity or quality mean more than shape, yet I would 
not discard the shape entirely. One error must, however, be aV^oided. 
It may be well to compare the size of escutcheon of cows of one breed, 



CATTLE, AYRSHIRES. 683 

but never to compare the size of escutcheon m cows of different breeds. 
I think this point means more relative to size in the Ayrshire than in the 
Holstein or Dutch ; and I am certain that while it may be safe to follow 
it in the Ayrshire in the majority of instances, it would be equally unsafe 
to adopt it in selecting a Short-Horn, for the obvious reason that that 
breed has been bred for generations for other purposes than those of the 
dairy. 

The udder and its dependencies, the milk veins, and the escutcheon 
mark, may be considered the foundation of the Ayrshire cow. These in- 
fluence profit, and also the shapes of the body and the form of the animal. 
The milk vessel is placed in the pubic region of the cow, and is protected 
on either side by the hind limbs. The breadth of its attachments secures 
breadth of body, and the weight requires also a depth of quarter and of 
flanks. The breadth below requires breadth of hip above, and length of 
loin here appears related to length of pelvis. So much for the physical 
portion. The physical function of milk-producing demands a great and 
continuous flow of blood, for it must not be forgotten that 7nilk is bloody 
so to speak. This flow is dependent on the supply of food, and on the 
facilities of digestion. To gain this, a large body is required in order to 
hold the suitable digestive organs. 

"To gain further room for these, we desire to .'■ee arched ribs, depth, 
yet no heaviness, of flank, and breadth of hips which we see was also 
required for the broad udder. To sustain this body, a strong, firm back 
is needed. To gain the most of our blood after it has absorbed the chyle 
from the digestive organs, reason shows that it should find its way freely 
and speedily through the system on its labors of supply and removal, 
cleanse itself in the lungs, and again pass on to its duties. All this points 
to a healthy heart, not cramped, and lungs of sufficient capacity ; for the 
yield of milk drains much nutriment from the system, and the constitu- 
tion must needs have the Aigor given by healthy and active heart and 
lungs. In this way the chest is correlated with the udder. 

"The reproductive functions requu'e hock bones of good size, and a 
broad pelvis is desirable, as underlying within are the generative organs. 
Defects here are to be shunned. 

"Thus the necessities of the body of a good milking cow require 
the wedge shape, and this not only from the flanks, but also when viewed 
from above." 

A Summing Up. 

The points of the Ayrshire cow, as given by the Ayrshire Agricultural 
Society, and the New York State Agricultural Society, have been summed 
up as follows : 



584 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The Body. 

"The whole fore-quarters thin in front, and gradually increasing in 
depth and width backward, yet of sufficient breadth and roundness to 
insure constitution ; back should be straight and the loins wide, the hips 
rather high and well spread ; pelvis roomy, long, broad and straight, 
hook bones wide apart ; quarters long, tolerably muscular, and full in 
their upper portion, but moulding into the thighs below, which should 
have a degree of flatness, thus affording more space for a full udder ; the 
flanks well let down, but not heavy ; ribs, behind, springing out very 
round and full, affording space for a large udder — ^the whole carcass thus 
acquiring increased volume toward its posterior portion. 

*'We see that the points as given are those of utility, and that at this 
stage the udder-points and body-points are correlated. 

The Skin. 

*' In connection with the body and the udder, the skin is of great value 
in assisting our judgment. Between the portion of the external covering 
used for leather, and the muscle, there occurs a layer of cellular tissue, 
which contains a larger or smaller amount of fat cells, and the mellow 
handling caused by these cells indicates a free circulation throughout this 
mesh work. 

"The skin varies from a thin, papery hide, covered with silky hair, to 
a thick, supple, elastic hide, well coated with hair, on the one hand, anU 
a similar variation, with harsh hair and coarseness, on the other. The 
thin, papery hide indicates quick fattening and a delicate constitution ; 
the thick, elastic hide cushioned on fat, and which on the flank comes 
into the hand almost without grasping, indicates the height of vigor, 
accompanied by the fattening tendency, and the possessor of this hand- 
ling endures climatic changes, low quality in his food, and neglect, with 
remarkable hardihood, and quickly responds to full feed and good care. 
The harsh handler is a dull feeder, consumes much food, and generally 
contains more than a just proportion of offal or waste. In the Ayrshire 
cow we desire neither of these extremes, for it is in the milk product 
that we wish the food to be utilized, and it is almost an unchanging law 
of nature, that deficiency in one direction must be compensated for by 
excess in another direction, and vice versa. At any rate, the cow that 
lays on fat too quickly is seldom a first class milker ; and how well 
known is it that the cow of large yield milks down her condition ! A 
cow that has a moderately thin, loose skin, of sufficient elasticity and 
suppleness of touch, ^nthout being fat-cushioned, as it were, with hair 
soft and mossy, or woolly, if of correct form otherwise, will usually milk 



CATTLE, AYRSHIRES. 585 

a large quantity, and when she becomes dry, will rapidly come into con- 
dition. In truth, the handling of the Ayrshire cow must be good ; it 
cannot be too good ; but it must not be of exactly that quality sought for 
in the grazing breeds. 

"There, as everywhere, the dairyman must keep to his line ; milk, not 
fat, is his profit ; and in seeking excess of both, he will be liable to fall 
below the average of either." 

Relating Especially to Milk. 

It is an axiom of breeders to diminish the useless parts of an animal as 
much as possible, or, in other words, to reduce the proportion of those parts 
not conductive to profit to as great extent as possible. Applying this 
rule to a dairy breed, we should desire a small neck, sharp shoulders, 
small brisket and small bone. Moreover, small bone usually accompanies 
thrift, and is universally found in improved breeds. We thus have a 
reason for these other Ayrshire points, which I now quote : 

" Shoulders lying snugly to tlie body, thin at their tops, small at their 
points, not long in the blade, nor loaded with muscle ; brisket light ; 
neck of medium length, clean in the thioat, very light throughout, and 
tapering to the head ; tail long and slender; legs short, bones fine, joints 
firm. 

If the dairyman's policy were otherwise, he would have to supply 
extrii food for the suj)port of parts useless to him, and whose larger 
development is of no especial value. 

The Head. 

*'The head should be small, in shape either long and narrow, or broad 
in the forehead and short, according to the type of animal preferred by 
the breeder, generally preferred somewhat dishing ; the nose tapering to 
an expanded muzzle, with good clean nostrils. Opinions differ as to the 
general shape of the head. A broad forehead and short face occurs 
more frequently in bulls, and is generally esteemed a masculine charac- 
teristic ; a more elongated face is called feminine. Yet some families of 
well-bred and good milking Ayrshire cows have the broad and short head, 
and such were, at one time, if not now, the favorite in the show-yard in 
Scotland. 

"The eye should be moderately full, lively yet placid looking. The 
eye is a mirror of the disposition, and interprets the character of the 
cow; a fretful, irritable animal is seldom a quick fattener, and usually 
disappoints at the pail. It also gives expression to the features, and 
physiognomy aids our judgment. 



586 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

"The ears should be of a good size, but thin, and their sldu of rich 
yellow color. Coarse ears are usually found on ill-bred animals, and these 
may be considered, to a certain extent, indicative of general coarseness. 
The color of the skin, as shown inside the ear, is usually considered 
indicative of the richness of the milk in butter. 

"The horns should be of medium size, of fine texture, with an out- 
vvard and upward turn, or inclining upwards and curving slightly inwards, 
according to the taste of the breeder. They should be set on rather 
widely apart. A coarse horn may indicate a coarse and thick hide, as 
there seems an intimate relation between the composition of the horn, 
hair, and hide, and the influence of climate on horn and hair gives an 
appearance oftentimes of correlation between the two. 

The Top Points. 

"The neck should be of medium length throughout, and tapering to 
the throat, which should be clean or free from loose, hanging skin. Yet 
too thin a neck is not desirable, as it usually indicates a delicate animal. 
A thick-set neck, well covered yet not overladen with muscle, accompa- 
nies hardiness and vigor of constitution. 

"The junction of the neck with the body and over the shoulders is 
called the crops ; on a horse it would be called the withers. A hollow 
behind this point is a never-failing sign of weakness. The crops should 
blend in easily with a thin shoulder, lying snugly to the body. This 
shoulder and a well defined spine produce the sharpness of shoulder so 
much admired. The back should be straight, with spine well defined, 
especially forward. The tail long, firm in the bone, and set on a level 
with the back, without depression or notch. A fine tail usually accom- 
panies fine bone, and the fine bone is not only decrease of offal over 
heavy limbs, but accompanies early maturity, and a tendency to thrift. 
The limbs should be fine-boned, flat-boned, and with joints of moderate 
size. On the forward limbs the cow should stand low. Large joints and 
round bones are found very frequently on dull feeders and on animals of 
little profit. 

The Teats. 

"The teats should be of medium length, evenly set, and project 
slightly outward when the bag is full, of even thickness throughout, and 
of fine texture. They should be placed about one-third of the length of 
the " vessel " apart in one direction, and about one-half the other. 
When the udder is not distended, they should hang perpendicularly. 
Large teats, however desirable to the milker, are usually accompanied by 



CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 587 

coarseness of build in the cow. They are seldom found on well-bred 
animals, yet exceptionally they occur, and arc much liked. A teat should 
be large enough to grasp, say from two to two and a half inches m 
length. A shorter one would be an objection ; with larger, I should fear 
coarseness. 

Color and Carriage. *■ 

"In color the Ayrshires vary greatly. Brown, red, and white appears 
to good advantage, and is fashionable. A good quantity of white, well 
distributed, adds style and showiness to the animal. Yellow and white 
is frequently seen, yet while this color is sometimes stated as indicating 
lack of hardiness, I am not aware of any proofs of argument having 
been brought forward to support this view. Color is as yet a matter of 
taste, for its correlations are hardly guessed at ; and from almost pure 
Wack, through the reds to almost pure white, are colors found on the 
best cows. Black spots on the skin, barely perceptible through the hair, 
often occur on the best cattle. Strawberry-blotched and red and white 
are perhaps the more common colors. A self-colored animal, or a roan, 
or animal with white on the ears, the writer has never yet seen among 
the Ayrshires in Scotland or in this country, when the pedigree was 
unquestionable. 

"The carriage should be light and active, the head well up, and the 
hind legs should not cross in walking. The condition should be neither 
fat nor lean, but that average which a good coav holds when in good 
flesh at calving, liberally fed while in milk." 

Holstein Cattle. 

• Dutch cattle were undoubtedly among the first cattle ever brought to 
America. Canada was visited by the French in 1808, when they founded 
Quebec. Soon after colonists arrived and brought Avith them the little 
Normandy cattle. The English first settled on the James river, in 
Virginia, in 1607, and Ncav York was settled by the Dutch in 1014. In 
1625 the first cattle were imported from the mother country, and they 
were undoubtedly the Dutch cows noted for milk, or a race nearly allied 
to what are now generally recognized as Holsteins. That this supposition 
is correct is probably true, since these cattle were considered valuable for 
milk and labor. It would naturally follow that these tAvo qualities should 
be considered of prime importance by the practical Dutch settlers, in a 
country Avhere game in abundance might be had by all who knew how 
properly to aim a gun. Rearing cattle for the sake of meat Avould be a 
secondary consideration there. 



588 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

History of Holsteins. 

In the adaption of breeds to special purposes we must always bear 
in mind that feed, climate, care, and careful breeding must be taken 
into consideration. Thus for the most excellent dairy cattle, we must 
look to countries noted for dairy products. In such districts will always 
be found tolerably uniform and excellent milkers. Really scientific 
breeding has not been practiced until within a very few years. It was 
more experiment than anything else. Yet so long ago as 1G25, England, 
Holland and Switzerland were noted for dairy products, and also for 
breeds of deep and lasting milkers. As education increased, and wealth 
became more general, improvement by selection was supplemented by a 
careful study of certain points and characteristics that might be expected 
to perpetuate themselves. Thus we now have the Jerseys, the Ayrshires, 
the Swiss cattle, and Holsteins, each specially adapted to the soil and 
requirements of their respective localities. The Holstein cattle, or those 
of North Holland, are noted for large frames ; for being of two distinct 
colors, black and white mixed. They belong to the great short-horned 
division of cattle, which race, from the best accounts extant, would seem 
to have been peculiar to the transient inhabitants of Germany from time 
immemorial, and to have been carried with them in all their migrations. 

The size, adaptation to districts yielding strong, plentiful herbage, and 
extraordinary milking qualities, have made them universal favorites in 
the West, and wherever introduced in all that great country of the 
Northwest that of late years has so suddenly become celebrated for its 
dairy products. Within the last century this breed, like all other pure 
breeds, has been wonderfully improved by the astute and practical 
Hollanders, so that it may now be called as distinctly a breed as any 
other of the more reputable families. Like the Durham and Teeswater 
cattle of a hundred years ago, they were then noted for a fair uniformity 
in appearance, and as deep milkers, good at the yoke, and as making 
heavy weights of fair beef when ready for fattening. The general 
characteristics of these two breeds would seem to point conclusively to 
the fact that originally they had a common ancestry in cattle belonging 
to the ancient races inhabiting the north of Europe, and that they were 
carried wherever these people, in their wanderings, migrated. 

Improvement. 

We have no definite knowledge when this wonderfully constituted 
short-horned race of cattle first became broken up into the various 
families that have of late years become celebrated both as dairy cattle 
and as beef cattle. It is probably within the last three centuries that 



CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 589 

systematic attempts have been made to breed them with a view to their 
careful improvement and toward fixing their characteristics — in England 
with the Durhams, now known as Shoi-t-Horns, and in Holland with the 
Dutch cattle, now known in the West through the imiJortation of the 
Holsteins, from the fact that in this district more care seems to have been 
taken to breed their cattle, not only to type, but also in line as dairy 
cattle. It takes long generations of such breeding to fix undeviatingly 
peculiar traits and characteristics, so they may be transmitted with great 
fixity to the resulting progeny. The Holsteins of the present century 
have presented uniformity, and to-day they may be called as persistent 
in the transmission of quality as the other great families of the genus 
Bos in any country. 

These have superior excellence in their milking qualities. They are 
dairy cows noted for giving enormous quantities of fairly rich milk. They 
have massive compact frames, and make good beef ; as working oxen, 
from their strength, docility, patience, and fairly active habits, they should 
make excellent workers. The horns of the Holsteins are short. The 
hair short, soft, and fine. The hides are of moderate thickness, of good 
texture — ^that is, mellow. The color should be always black and white, 
either in bands, or else pied, mottled or spotted over the body. The ud- 
ders of the cows are capacious, of great breadth and depth. The teats 
well shaped and standing well apart. The milk-veius prominent, large, 
and running well forward. 

Holsteins in America. 

As we previously stated, the old Dutch settlers of New York brought 
over Avith them this valuable breed of cattle. They have, however, become 
entirely lost, except that they have left their impress in resulting genera- 
tions of mixed blood. 

Since the time noted, there probably were none imported until the 
present century. In the early part of the century, at the time of the im- 
portation of Merino sheep, by Mr. William Jarvis, of Vermont, in one of 
his voyages he brought over a bull and two cows. They remained on his 
farm for some years ; the bull was bred to the common stock of the coun- 
try, producing a decided impress, but at the end of a few years the pure 
blood was lost. 

It is recorded, that, somewhere between 1820 and 1825, Mr. Herman 
Le Roy, a public spirited merchant of New York city, imported some im- 
proved Dutch cattle which were sent to his farm near the city. Between 
1827 and 1829, some of the produce of this herd were sent to the farm of 
his son, Edward Le Roy, on the Genesee river. Mr. L. F. Allen de- 



590 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



scribes this herd in 1833, as he then saw them, as being large, well-spread 
cattle, black and white in color, and remarkable for their uncommon yield 
of milk, and of great value as dairy animals ; their qualities in that line 
were universally acknowledged wherever known. 

About Dutch Cattle Generally. 

In treating of Dutch cattle we have adopted the name Holstein, and for 
the reason that in the West certainly the importers seem to have fancied 
the cattle found in Holstein, and to have imported more largely of them 
than any other of the Dutch cattle. That the right name for all those 
families of ancient lineage, bred in North-Holland, and recognized as 
havino- been for many generations great milkers and as making heavy beef 
cattle, of good quality, when dry, should be Dutch cattle, there is, from 
the testimony, little doubt. So also it would seem that the Holstein cattle 
are a sub-race of the older Dutch, as the following letter from Prof. J. 
G. Hengweld, of the Netherlands Eoyal Veterinary Institute, to Mr. 
Charles MuUer, United States Consul at Amsterdam, would seem to show. 
This is dated Utrecht, November, 1872, and published in the Report of 

the on Dutch Cattle in Agriculture of Massachusetts, second series, 

1873-74. From it we extract as follows : 

Quotino- from Low's Agricultural History of the Domestic European 
Animals, etc., he says : "In comparing these varieties of cattle to the 
breeds of the Continent, there is an analogy found on the one side between 
the great breeders of the marshes and the black cattle, natives of the 
plains and marshes of Holland ; and on the other, between the more various 
kinds on the north of the Humber and those of Holstein and Jutland, 
whence the best cattle of Northern Europe have sprung." It is not un- 
reasonable to suppose, that these latter breeds may have been introduced 
durin"" the first period of Saxon colonization by the Jutes and Angles, who 
settled down in that part of England. But at a more approximate period 
to us, it appears that cattle were frequently imported from the neighbor- 
ing continent, and that they were mixed with native breeds. 

It was especially the Dutch cows that were considered the best milch 
kinds of Northern Europe. 

There is here a very clear and evident difference made between the ex- 
cellent Dutch cattle and the Holstein and Jutland breeds whose origin 
Low traces to a Saxon colonization. How Low, a few lines further on, 
can make the Dutch cattle derive their origin from the Holstein cattle 
— from which lines the 'herd book' draws its inference (the same occurs 
in the French version, 'whence the best Dutch races themselves originate' ) — ■ 
is incomprehensible ; and it is evident Low errs, or is not sufficiently ac- 



CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 591 

quainted with the history of both countries. For already seven centuries 
before the colonization in England, of the Jutes and Angles, theFriesians 
[Hollanders] were known for the greater number of their cattle, as will 
further appear. 

Every Spring, thousands of Holstein heifers are driven to the fields 
of Northern Germany and Holland, where people find it is more profita- 
ble to buy heifers than to raise them ; and the name of the breed got 
confused, so that the name "Holland cow," was here translated into 
" Dutch cow," etc. 

About Herd Books. 

The "herd-book" takes the unwarranted liberty, whenever it should 
speak of Dutch cattle, of adding immediately after, the word "Holstein." 
It gives to Holstein cattle purchased in N^orth Holland — and of which 
the first importation took place in Massachusetts in 1852, afterward in 
1857, etc., but the greatest in 1861 — all the honor the Dutch cattle so 
abundantly deserve, and appears to have made the geographical blunder 
of supposing North Holland, Friesland, Groningen and Oldenburg as 
belonojinof to Holstein. 

The thesis so arbitrarily adopted and set forth by the "herd-book," 
that the large black and white cattle imported into North America from 
the Netherland provinces of North Holland and Friesland have "undoubt- 
edly descended from the original stock of Holstein," as it proclaims on 
page 9, requires a most decided denial and refutation for the honor and 
reputation of Dutch cattle ; and, ^vithout being led astray by the most 
strangely jumbled-up references mentioned, I wish to point out, — 

True History. 

1st. That the history of the Dutch or Holland cattle dates further back 
than that of Holstein. 

2ud. That the Holstein cattle descended from the Dutch ; and 

3rd. That the name of "Holstein cattle" is only a local appellation 
for a peculiar indigenous breed, constituting only one of several apper- 
taining to the same group, namely, to the groups of the Lowland races, 
of which the Dutch breed is the fundamental type. To this I now proceed. 

According to the "Allgemeine Deutsche Real Encyclopedia," the 
origin of Holstein Schleswyck lies buried in obscurity, and Holstein was 
probably visited by the Cimbri ; while a century after, the Roman 
Emperor, Csesar Tiberius, arrived with his army and fleet before the 
mouth of the Elbe, without, however, setting foot on the Holstein shore. 
According to Tacitus, it may be stated, that the Holstein Baltic coast was 



592 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

inhabited, as far as Mecklenburg and Schleswyck, by seven petty Ger- 
man tribes, of whom the Angles and Warnes have preserved their names 
down to the present time ; while the others have been melted down into 
that of the Saxons. In the fifth century, the Saxons and Angles united 
with the Jutes and Friesians, and migrated to England. (This is Low's 
colonization.) Subsequently, the Holstein Saxons, who dwelt to the 
north of the Elbe, were called by the name of Normans ; while the name 
of Holstein is not mentioned in history before eight hundred years after 
Christ. In 1128-64, the Holstein province Uagrien was conquered and 
converted to Christianity, and partly peopled with strange colonists from 
Friesland, Holland and Westphalia. 

It appears that, with regard to its fitness as a grazing and cattle-breed- 
ing country, Holstein is of later date than Holland ; which fact will 
appear the more prominent after some account has been made of the old- 
est inhabitants of Holland and their pursuits. 

What History Says. 

For this purpose I at once direct the attention of the reader to the 
coming of the Friesians and Batavians. The former were the oldest 
inhabitants of Holland, and were known as herdsmen, hunters and fisher- 
men. Their history in this country goes as far back as 300 years before 
Christ. The Batavians came 200 years later (100 years before Christ) 
down the Rhine ; and, although they were likewise herdsmen, they occu- 
pied themselves more particularly with hunting and fishing. 

The lands of the Friesians comprised the whole country to the north of 
the Rhine as far as the shore of the North Sea, to which West and East 
Friesland belonged, composing the present Dutch provinces of Groningen, 
Friesland, Dreuthe, and North Holland, besides the provinces of Utrecht, 
Overyssell, and a part of Gulderland and South Holland. Of all these 
provinces, Groningen alone appertained to East Friesland. 

Tacitus says of the Friesians and Batavians : "They owned cattle, not 
excelling in beauty, but in number." He further states, as does also 
Julius Csesar, that the Friesians and Batavians paid each other in cows, 
sheep and goats, and gave likewise to their children as dowry, oxen adapted 
to the yoke and plough, cattle and horses. When they were subdued by 
the Romans in the first century of our era, the conquerors derived much 
advantage from this wealth in cattle, and imposed upon the Friesians an 
annual tribute, consisting of cow-hides and meat ; while they chose their 
most valient warriors from among the Batavians. 

The Friesians and Batavians applied themselves to the draining of their 
marshy lands and their islands, created meadows on the reclaimed soil, 



CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 



593 



which they first protected against inundations by raising hills, breakers 
and dikes, of which the traces are everywhere discernible along the coast 
throughout West Friesland and Groningen. Something is even known 
regarding the color of their cattle, namely, that they held those of a white 
color in religious veneration. It is a very plausible theory that the Fries- 
ians, who, at as early a date as three hundred years before Christ, peopled 
the north of the present Netherlands, and wrought those alluvial plains of 
Scandinavian clay into soil fit for the requirement of their cattle, did, in 
after-centuries, spread themselves in more northerly and easterly directions 
as far as the Elbe — as we already know they did, in the fifth century, 
unite with the Jutes and Anglo-Saxons in emigi-ating to England ; in addi- 
tion to which, we must observe that these were probably East Friesians 
and not West Friesians. 

The Friesians, from Oldenburg and the country near the mouth of the 
Elbe, both south and north of that river, were compelled, through the 
inclemency of those regions — then in their original condition of low allu- 
vial swamps, inundated at every tide — ^to desert them. It was owing to 
these local circumstances that the Romans were prevented from endeavoring 
to land their army. 

It can be shown that the inhabitants of this territory were unable to 
make sure provision for their own wants because of the robberies and pi- 
racies committed by the Normans, dwellers on the west coast of Denmark, 
people from Holstein and Schleswyck, Jutes and Angles. .These were by 
no means peaceful breeders of cattle, as were the Friesians and Batavians, 
whose lands they constantly plundered and laid waste, burning and ravag- 
ing their possessions, massacring the inhabitants, making them pay tribute, 
penetrating far inland to the mouths of the Rhine and Yssel, and every- 
where giving unbridled vent to their ferocity and love of plunder. This 
was between the eighth and eleventh centuries. Giving due weight to 
these statements, which, from the nature of the case must be necessarily 
brief, it cannot be doubted that the cultivation of cattle in the Netherlands 
existed a long time before such a thing could be thought of in Holstein. 
It is also quite as certain that the colonies from Friesland, Holland and 
Westphalia, carried with them their cattle into Holstein. Their wealth 
largely consisted in their herds. 

Hence we see that, first, the Dutch race of cattle date from an older 
descent than those of Holstein ; while, probably, second, the Holstein cattle 
originated from tiie Friesian breed and from that of the Dutch and Westpha- 
lian emigrants. 

After this colonization, we have our attention directed to another 
remarkable particular in the rapidly advancing history of the Dutch cattle 
cultivation. 



594 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Begxilar Markets Established. 

From the fourteenth on till the eighteenth century, a large number of 
Danish oxen were annually turned for pasture into the grassy meadows 
of North Holland — formerly West Friesland, and sold at the weekly 
North Holland cattle market. The oldest of these cattle markets is that 
of the city of Hoorn. This market was already established in 1311, and 
in 1839 the Danes and the inhabitants of the Eyder were allowed by 
Albrecht, duke of Bavaria, to hold a weekly market there. In 1605, the 
Danish cattle market was removed from Hoorn and transferred to Enk- 
huyzen, when, in 1624, the number of 1,179 oxen were sold. There was 
also in Amsterdam a lean-cattle market, beginning in the Spring, in the 
month of April, but held at irregular periods, depending upon wind and 
weather, when cattle were allowed to be conveyed from Denmark and 
Holstein hither to graze. These were mostly brought by vessel. Mr. 
Hengeveld says : 

"These importations of Danish and Holstein cattle into North Holland, 
to which the 'herd-book' might refer, did not consist of 'heifers' but of 
lean oxen, which were pastured on the fertile meadows of the Polders, 
and afterwards sold at the markets of Hoorn, Enkhuyzen and Amster- 
dam as fat cattle. As to heifers, either then or now, having been imported 
from Holstein into Friesland and North Holland for the purpose of breed- 
ing, no such tiling is known." 

To withhold nothing, and to put nothing in a distorted light, I may 
add, that in the middle of the 18th century several importations took 
place into Friesland of Danish cattle, consisting of young calves. This 
was at the time of the raging of the cattle-plague, which desolating dis- 
ease carried off thousands of the finest cattle in Friesland and Holland. 

For the jDurpose of keeping the cattle trade alive, and to fill the places 
of those destroyed by the plague, small Danish breeds and German cows 
of diminutive size were substituted and crossed with the remaining and 
recovered natives. 

"They were," says Scheltma, "Danish, Holstein and small German 
cows, of which the greater part were smaller in size than the native race." 
In the same work we find, "that one was reduced to the necessity, in 
1769, of purchasing the needful cattle in the county of Bentheim, in the 
district of Oldenburg and Munster, in Hanover and other parts of 
Germany." 

In the work, "Present State of Friesland," it is mentioned that, 
"owing to the cattle-plague, the people were compelled to in: port from 
abroad all kinds of small cattle, chiefly Danish. But, what was remark- 
able, however small and ill-favored these animals might be, when com- 



CATTLE, HOL8TEINS. 



595 




596 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

pared with the handsome Friesiaii horned cattle, as a natural consequence, 
an improvement of food induced a favorable development of bod}^ and, 
from the mixture of the two breeds, good and choice milch-kine were 
attained within two or three generations of the introduction of the foreign 
blood, no matter how much the race had in the beginning deteriorated 
through the process, and, eventually, the type of Danish and* German 
cattle was quite lost." This is, however, already one hundred years ago. 
A fair consideration of what has been thus far stated will leave no 
justification of the "herd-book's" imputation upon the antiquity and 
purity of descent of our Friesian or Dutch cattle ; or its assumption 
that they are of Holstein origin. No ; the genealogy of Netherland cat- 
tle is i)ure and unadulterated, and it is at least two thousand years old. 

Pacts as to Dutch Cattle. 

Our authority continues as follows : 

"I come now to the present time, and the question whether it is tenable 
to give to one variety of cattle the name of an entire group, and to 
reckon as appertaining to it all its several varieties or breeds, — as, for 
instance, the Dutch, Friesian, Oldenburg, Holstein, etc., — and would it 
not be imperative in such a case to give it the purely historical name by 
which it is generally known? If it could be desirable to give a general 
name to the cattle of the just mentioned districts, then that of Holstein 
cattle would not be appropriate, and for it should be substituted that of 
Friesian cattle, whence all the varieties originated. 

"The chief characteristics of this Friesian breed — its eminent milk- 
giving and fattening qualities — we find in all the just mentioned districts, 
and extending still further southward ; with this difference, however, 
that wherever the land is more fertile, the climate milder, and the tending, 
feeding and breeding of the cattle observed with more care, in that 
measure, and according as these requisites stand to each other in the 
closest proportion and harmony, they are more developed, attain larger 
size and are of a finer texture. 

"If the intention be to convey a correct understanding of the true 
qualities of the several varieties or breeds mentioned in their own dwelling' 
places, it is better that each breed should retain the name .by which it is 
known, and that no collective name, though a historical one, should be 
given them. 

"In order to be able to readily classify a group of cattle of great 
extent, possessing the same chief qualities in form and productiveness, 
Sturm* proposed, so long as fifty years ago, to give to a group, subject 



*Dr. Sturm : " Of Races, Crossing and Improvement of Indigenous Domestic Animals. 
Elberfield. 1825. 



CATTLE, HOLtSTEINS. 



597 




598 ILLU8TKATEU STOCK DOCTOU. 

to the same conditions of soil and climate, a name indicating those 
conditions, and thus originated Mountain Cattle, Highland Cattle, and 
Lowland Cattle. He also heads each of these divisions by the breed 
best representing the distinctive feature of its class, as its tyjpe. It is 
under the denomination of Lowland Cattle that he places the different 
breeds of the coast lands along the North Sea. Schmalz, Pabst, and 
many subsequent writers, adopt this classification ; some with a few 
modifications, but all in the physical characteristics of the country to 
which they are indigenous, the general denomination of the collective 
group, according to Schmalz' s statement, cattle, adopting Sturm's classi- 
fication, may be distinguished in the following manner : 

Races of Dutch. Cattle. 

"A. Lowland Race. — Primitive cow ; Dutch-Friesian cow. 

" B. Mountain Race. — Degenerate, quite the contrary of A ; Swiss cow. 

"C. Middle Race. — Highland race; forms the transition from A to 
B ; Prankish cow. 

"Schmalz says, 'To the race A belong the Dutch, as representatives, 
the Friesian, the Oldenburg, and chiefly all Lowland races bearing the 
peculiar characteristics which identify it with the place of its sojourn.' 

"This is a purely natural division, and there is not the least arrogance 
in asserting, what history points out, that the Dutch cattle constitute the 
type of the oldest, purest, and best breed. All other varieties are of 
less intrinsic value ; they are coarser or smaller, possess less productive 
qualities, though of local excellence in their native places. ^ If cattle of 
the genuine breed are bought, imported elsewhere, and there bred, why is 
it not called by its native name, and why m,ust an appellation be given to 
it quite foreign and unTcnoivn to itT i 

"One hears in Europe of 'Lowland cattle,' but purchases of them for 
the purpose of improving other breeds have, for the last hundred years, 
been only made in the chief Netherland provinces, where the choicest 
cattle of the Lowlands are found. Thus, thousands of Dutch and Friesian 
cattle are annually sent abroad under the name of Dutch cattle.''^ 

Dr. George May's Testimony. 

Finally, I beg to add quotations from Dr. Greorge May,* director of 
the agricultural establishment at Weihenstephan, who visited Holland 
about ten years ago. 

"The Dutch cattle constitute the type of the properly so-called Lowland 



*Dr. George May : " The Cattle." Munich. 1863. Vol. HI., p. 38 



' CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 599 

race, which extends throughout Netherlands, Flanders, Normandy, 
Oldenburg, and Denmark. The Oldenburg cattle descended from the 
Dutch race, and are likewise distinguished as East Friesian cattle, as still 
partially found in Hanoverian Friezland. In the adjacent parts of Bremen 
it is called Bremen cattle," "The Holstein and Breitenburg cattle in the 
Wilster and Rempner markets are equal to * * * ; but with respect to 
their square build, the Breitenburg cattle are in their properties more 
like the finer Dutch cattle." 

Other writers of repute may be quoted, but enough has been given to 
show that the name of "Holstein" is only a local, and not a collective 
name, and may not be given to cattle bought in North Holland. To do 
so is to underrate the Dutch cattle race. 

Mr. Klippart's Testimony. 

In relation to the native cattle of Holstein, tlie lamented Ivlippart in 
his Ohio Agricultural Report of 1865, sajs': 

"The native cattle of Holstein are the Angle cattle, which are far more 
numerous than any other Idnd or race. They are small animals, with 
fine bones, short legged rather than otherwise ; a very fine, small head, 
and delicately formed neck. The predominating color is red or brown, 
but there are many dun, black, or spotted ones. According to the amount 
of food consumed, this race give a more abundant supply of milk than 
any other in the duchies. It is a very highly esteemed race — is much 
sought after for its milking qualities and kindliness in taking on flesh. 
The flesh is very fine, tender and juic}'. On account of the great demand 
for stock of this race, cattle dealers have not unfrequently gone into 
Jutland and other points, and made purchases, which they represented as 
being genuine Angles ; but in recent years a law has been passed that every 
breeder of Angle stock must brand the calves with the letters A. R. (Angle 
Hace,) in order to prevent impositions. 

' ' In these marshes are found a race of cattle much larger and heavier 
than the Angles, larger boned, and of a dark, reddish brown, and known 
as the Marsh race. This race seems to be adapted to the marshes, but 
does not do well on the higher and dryer uplands. Upon the rich pas- 
tures of the marshes, for a time after calving, the best cows Avill giA^e 
from forty-eight to sixty-four pounds, (from six to eight gallons), of 
milk daily. But the milk is not near so rich as that of the Angles ; — in 
fact, I was shown a statement, apparently well authenticated, to the 
effect that milk of the Marsh race contained no more than two per cent, 
of cream, while that of the Angle race contained sixteen per cent. One 
thing is very certain, namely: the butter of the Marsh race is not near 
so sweet or ' nuttv' as that of the Ano-le race. 



gQQ ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

" In Schleswig, rather than in Holstein, are found many of the Jutland 
race of cattle. These have very fine bones, and are long in proportion to 
their height, and are, as a rule, short-legged. The prevailing color 13 
gray, black, or gray and black mixed vrith white, but very rarely red or 
brown. This race is more highly esteemed for its early maturity and 
readiness to fatten than for its milking qualities." 

In the transaction of the Ohio Board of Agriculture, 1872, in an article 
<&n Dutch cattle, by Professor Furstenburg, we find the following: 
"The breeds of cattle in Holland maybe divided according to their locality 
as follows : 1. The breeds in the provinces North and South Holland and 
West Friesland. 2. The ])reeds in the provinces Groningen, Guelderland, 
Utrecht, and Overyssel. 3. The breeds in the provinces of Seeland. 
Although these breeds are closely related, still they show difference result- 
ino- from keeping and the various purposes for which they are bred. 

Breeds in tlie Provinces North and South Holland and West Friesland. 

"The breed most renowned in the kingdom for its milk-producmg quali- 
ties is found in these three provinces. But North Holland in particular 
is noted for the manner of keeping cattle, which are known by the name 
of Amsterdam race, being no less remarkable on account of size than for 
the o-reat production of milk. The pastures of North Holland are said to 
contain 100,000 morgen (158-100 morgento an acre) ; every acre furnishes 
nourishment for 49-100 head of cattle. The peasants are engaged almost 
solely in cattle breeding, and the keeping and care which these animals 
receive here has almost become proverl^ial on account of its perfection. 

"The cattle here are mostly spotted black and white ; however, brown 
and blue or gray mixed are found. The height is considerable, being not 
under two Amsterdam ells (4 51-100 feet) ; the length of the body in pro- 
portion to the height, the middle part of which is particularly developed, 
the quarters fleshy, neck rather short than long, with a strong dewlap ; 
head narrow and long, with the forehead slightly depressed ; fine horns 
crooked forward , and large pro j ecting ears . The with ers are often narrow ; 
the back, on the other hand, broad across the hips, which are not very 
prominent ; the tail fine and long, with a good tuft of hair ; the position 
f the hind legs strong and straight (not knock-kneed), the hind-quarters 
jroad and roomy, and the bag well developed. The lower part of the 
leo-s above the hoofs is invariably white, which is regarded as a sign of 
the pure unmixed breed. The live weight of the cows is 1,200 to 1,400 
pounds ; that of bulls reaches 2,000 pounds when full grown and fatted. 
The cows are unusually productive of milk, and give an average of 3,000 
quarts and over per annum. 



CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 601 

*'A very excellent milch cow of the 'Amsterdam race, from the royal 
cow stable in Eldena, which was In-ought with a few others to the Inter- 
national Exhibition, took the hrsl premium for milch cows of the 
!Neth(;rland I'ace at the International Exhibition of live stock at Stettin in 
1865. This cow, fed in the stall only, gave in one year the great 
quantity of 6,142 quarts of milk, and kept up afterwards to 4,000 
quarts in an equal length of time. 

"To the breed of North Holland are nearly related those of South 
Holland and West Friesland, and differ perhaps only in that the latter 
are larger boned, and in general of not so pleasing a form. In regard 
to their milk-producing qualities they are about equal. The manner of 
keeping the stock, and the use of the milk, is also the same, viz. : the 
manufacture of cheese, while the calves are raised and sold as A'oung 
stock at high prices. From these three provinces, the former two of 
■which suffered so much lately from rinderpest, milch coavs are bought 
for the best dairies in German}^ 

" Holland cattle are well adapted to soiling, although at home they are 
accustomed to pasturage. They are kept profitably on the latter only 
when its abundance facilitates grazing and makes corporal exertion unnec- 
essary. Therefore a great error would be made in placing these animals 
on a scant pasturage, and they are not at all adapted to the pasturage of 
a light soil. The result of stall-feeding is more favorable, because proper 
care and fodder can be given the stock without its exertion. "\Ye have 
received from no other race an equal quantity of milk with the same feed, 
as years of observation in the cow stable of the Academy at Eldena 
.has sho\\m. 

" Three years ago (in 1865), different races were kept here, ^dz. : milch 
cows of Toudern and Breitenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, of A}Tshire, in 
Scotland, and of Holland. 

Yields of Milk. 

* ^ The yield of milk this year of these races was : 

"1. Four Toudern cows gave 9,337 quarts, or an average of 2,334 
quarts, or 6 3-10 quarts per day for the year. The largest milker gave 
2,345 quarts, the smallest 2,020 quarts. 

"2. Three Breitenburg cows gave 8,594 quarts, or an average of 
2,864 2-3 quarts, or 7 85-100 quarts per day for the year. The largest 
milker gave 2,946 quarts, the smallest 2,820 quarts. 

" 3. Three Ayrshire cows gave 5,386 quarts, or an average of 1,795 1-3 
quarts, or 4 92-100 quarts per day for the year. The largest milker gave 
2,249 quarts, the smallest 1,415 quarts. 



602 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. gOg, 

"Twenty-two Holland cows gave 78,100 quarts, or an average of 
3,550 quarts, or 9 73-100 quarts per day for the year. The largest 
milker gave 6,142 quarts, the smallest 2,526 quarts. 

" The average feed per head in the Winter was daily — 10 pounds Sum- 
mer straw, cut fine : 2 1-2 pounds oat and wheat chaff ; 25 pounds 
beets ; 10 j)ounds hay ; 8 pounds refuse malt from beer brewery ; 3 
pounds rye bran. This food is considered about equal to 42 9-10 
pounds ha}'. 

"During the Summer the cows were fed daily per head 135 pounds 
green fodder, viz., clover and vetches (of the latter very little was used;, 
and three times a day 8 pounds of hay." 

Feeding Qualities. 

"Although there is no doubt that the Holland cows eat more, gener- 
ally, than the smaller Ayrshire and Toudern (for the fodder was not 
weighed out for each animal separately), this is of minor importance in 
comparison with the greater amount of milk given b}'" the former. The 
greater amount of feed consumed by the Holland cows can be estimated, 
viz. : Nine of them stood at one crib, while ten of the smaller stood at 
another of equal size ; the fodder was, however, divided the same in each. 
The proportion is as nine to ten, or when the smaller cows eat 45 pounds 
of hay, the larger ones eat 50 pounds. 

"From the quantity of milk given, the Holland cows used a trifle over 

5 pounds weight of hay to produce one quart of milk ; Breitenburg used 

6 25-100 pounds of hay ; Toudern 7 pounds of hay ; AATshire 9 pounds 
of hay. By these results it cannot remain doubtful which race is 
preferable," 

Early Importations Retained Pure. 

"Le Roy, father and son, should not have allowed their herd to become 
scattered and lost as a pure breed, when they subsequently turned atten- 
tion to the breeding of Short-Horns. That this was the fact is evident 
from the record, that at the sale of the farms of these gentlemen, after- 
ward, none but grades were found in the herd or in the adjacent country 

"The first importation of animals that have been retained pure, were 
those of Mr. W. C. Chenery, near Boston, in 1861. This was a bull and 
four cows, whicli were successfully lired and kept pure, Mr. Chenery, 
previous to that time, in 1852, imported a single cow; in 1857 he made 
importations of a bull and two cows, and in 1859 a further importation of 
four more cows. With this latter importation he was so unfortunate as 
to import pleuro-pneumonia. The ravages of this dread disease extended 



^04 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

to the entire breed, and with the exception of a single young bull they 
were entirely destroyed. In 18 Gl Mr. Chenery made another importation 
of a bull and four cows, which came over sound. These and their de- 
scendants were the only pure bred herd in America for years. That they 
were the best representatives of their breed is certain from the fact that 
they were selected with care from the best dairy herds of North Holland, 
and were so certified to by the official authorities of the districts where 
they were bred." 

Holsteins as Milkers. 

As being interesting history and also as a means of comparison with 
their descendants and also with later impoi-tations, we give some interest- 
ing data : 

The four year old bull girted 7 feet 10 inches. His length was 8 feet 
7 inches ; height *4 feet 11 inches, and his weight was 2,465 pounds. His 
color was jet black and clear white, the white being confined to the fore- 
head, with a large patch on the withers and top of the rump ; the limbs, 
brisket, bellj^ and flanks being also white. 

In relation to 3deld and quality of milk, Mr. Allen says : 

"The four imported cows, each seven years old, have an average weight 
of 1,325 pounds. The weight of a past two-year old heifer is 1,240 
pounds. A past yearling heifer weighed 960 pounds ; and the weight of 
six calves at an average of eight months, reared in the usual way, without 
forcing, was an average of 576 pounds each. 

'*The milking qualities of the breed may be judged by the following 
memoranda : One of the imported cows, when six years old, dropped a 
calf on the 15th of May, weighing 101 pounds ; and from the 26th of May to 
the 26th of July, by a careful and exact record, gave 4,018 pounds 14 ounces 
of milk. The largest yield in any one day was 76 pounds 5 ounces 
(35 1-3 quarts). In ten days she gave 744 pounds 12 ounces, or an aver- 
age of 74 47-100 pounds per day. She gave a good flow of milk during 
the season, continuing to the 24th of May following, and on the succeding 
day dropped twin heifer calves, which weighed 155 pounds. The amount 
of cream produced from this cow's milk, in a vessel specially prepared for 
measuring it, produced 22 70-100 per cent of the milk, as tested by an 
accurate examination. 

"The nutritive qualities of the milk were also tested by a thorough 
chemical analysis, and found to be excellent. It is also rich in its caseine, 
or cheese-making properties. Six days' milk of this cow was set for 
cream, and the produce was 17 pounds 14 ounces of good butter — nearly 
3 pounds per day ; and it is claimed by the owner that she is not the very 
best cow of the herd. 



CATTLE, HOLSTEINS. 605 

"These results show not only the remarkable productions of the cow, 
but the accurate and pains-taking care of the proprietor of the herd in 
testing their ability at the pail. Of what the food given to the cow was 
composed, we are not informed. We are to presume, however, that it 
was of the best, as every cow should have, to test to the utmost her lacteal 
faculties." 

Weights and Milk Products. 

The Holstein bulls weigh from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds, and are kind, 
tractable, good tempered. A half-blood Holstein steer is recorded that 
weighed 1,900 pounds, and some two-year olds that averaged 1,300 
pounds. 

In a large number of tests that have been made with Hoi steins and 
natives at various factories in the West, the results reported showing as 
follows : Natives range from 5.000 to 8,000 per year; Holsteins, from 
8,000 to 12,000 lbs. per year of milk. 

In a comparison of Holstein and Ayrshires, the following is the report 
of three herds of Ayrshires, including Dr. E. L. Sturtevant' s herd. The 
Dr. gives the record as follows : General average with 13 Ayrshires for 
four years, 5,543 lbs. The best year was 1872 — 13 Ayrshire cows (no 
heifers), 6, 047 lbs. Mr. E. F. Miles, of Massachusetts, gives the fol- 
lowing ^deld of Ayrshires : Best year's average out of five years was 
6,292 lbs., from a dairy of 11 cows ; general average for five years, 5,614 
lbs. Mr. F. H. Appleton, of Massachusetts, gives the following record 
of three Ayrshire cows for one year, average, 7,055 lbs. 

It is quite safe to say that these cattle will give from 8,000 pounds up 
to 12,000 pounds a year. Mr. Hubble, of Onarga, 111., gives the record 
of one cow, which gave 14,000 pounds in less than one year, and another 
which, in 1878, gave 15,960 1-8 pounds of milk. 

Herd Records. 

As showing the great value of any pure breed in the production of milk. 
Keeping in mind always that the Jerseys give exceptionally good milk, 
and the Ayrshire and Short-Horns the next in richness, we append a list 
,)f herds for a series of years, showing the number milked, the average 
yielded per cow and the average of all given breeds, which is tabulated 
on next page. 

As milking cows the Holsteins are wonderful, as cheese-makers they 
are superior, as butter-makers they do not stand the test so well. In 
fact, Holstein breeders always tell how much milk their cows will give ; 
the Ayi'shire men, how much milk, and butter, and cheese their cows will 



606 



TLLUSTRATF-D STOCK DOCTOR. 



AYRSHIRE HERDS. 



No. of 
Years. 



No. of 
Yields. 



Herds. 



Average Yield 
per Cow. 



11 
5 
2 
1 
5 
3 
4 
2 
1 
1 



109 
44 
16 
4 
57 
18 
38 
12 
37 



7 

5 

11 



24 
9 



17 
8 

80 
4 

14 



55 
60 
74 

35 



Waushakum 5,229 

Cherry Brook 5.372 

Roadside 5,334 

Custiing's 5.705 

Maplewood 5.583 

New Jersey AgriculLural College 6,534 

Cochichewick 5,571 

A. Lcbbys 7.582 

Oneida Community 5,498 

Cornell's 6,405 

Average of all 5,881 3-10 

HOLSTEIN HERDS. 



lbs. 



Togus 

Oneida Community 

Miller's 

Average of all 

[Let us add to these two well-known herds]. 

Col. H. C. Hoffman's 

Uuadilla Valley Association 

Average of all 8.8 

JERSEY HERDS. 

Togus 

E. p. of Rhode Island 

Deerfoot 

Nordheim 

Hillsdale 

Average of all 

Let us add to this list the 

SHORT-HORN HERDS. 

R. Ashburner, California 6,870 

Harris Lewis 6,400 

John Lea, Eng.,500 lbs cheese in 8 mos., and milk 

for calves— milk sold in winter 

Beauchamp'sC"rt,Eng 8,000 

(These were samples of a large herd). 

Average of all 6,736 



5,922 
8,771 
8,590 
7,761 

9,369 

8,384 
761-2 

4.128 
4.622 
4,658 
3,808 
4.269 
4,303 



make ; the Jersey owners, how much butter and cream to the quart of 
milk. To show that the Holstein is not a butter cow, the following 
deduced from a table published by the London Agriculture Journal, the 
results of tests made by Mr. Amersfoordt, of Badhoeve, in the Lake of 
Haarlem, Holland, a most competent authority, who tested the milk of 
46 cows in June, and 49 cows in November, with Prof. Tesser's lacto- 
scope, which is claimed to give a close approximation to the actual fat 
in the milk. 

In the table made by Mr. Amersfoordt, the yield of each cow on the 
15th of June and the 24th of November is given with the per centage of 
fat. The average yield of 46 cows in June, is 13.87 litres, or 31 lbs. 
each, and the per centage of fat 5.217. Six of the largest milkers gave 
20.2 litres, or 46 lbs. per day, with 5.2 per cent, of fat. 



CATTLE, HOL8TEINS. 



607 



On the 26th of November, 49 cows gave an average of 6.24 litres, or 
13.92 lbs., with 6.32 per cent, of fat. The largest per centage of fat 
was 7.50. ' If the lactometer of Dr. Fesser is accurate, this would show 




the Holsteins to give milk as rich as our native cows, whose milk will 
yield 5 per cent, of butter on flush grass in June, and 7 per cent, m 



QQ^ ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

November. So considering the noble milking powers of this breed, and 
their w-ell-known ability as cheese-makers, their outcome in butter should 
be considered satisfactory. 

The Kerry Cow. 

In Ireland, from time immemorial, there has existed two distinct races 
3f cattle that were valuable in their day and time ; one a long-horned 
breed, and the other belonging to the middle-horns and considered 
an aboriginal breed. Of the long-horns we have already made what 
mention is necessary here, excejDt that we may add that from their resem- 
blance to the English long-horns, they have been supposed to have had 
the same origin ; but whether the English family came from Ireland, or 
vice versa, is not known ; history is silent on the subject, and it matters 
but little to this generation. The middle-horns and the short-horns are 
the valuable cattle of the present day, and they will be the cattle of the 
future. 

The other representative branch of the genus Bos in Ireland, the 
cattle of Kerry, or as they are now termed, Kerry cattle, are worth more 
than a passing mention, because there have been representative animals 
imported. to the United States, and they may have value in some moun- 
tainous countries of the United States, and the far Northwest, for their 
extreme hardiness, their facility in shifting for themselves, and their 
adaptability in fattening when not in milk. As a breed they are rare, 
and even in the last century were not to be found except inland on the 
mountains. They are described by Youatt as small, light, active and 
wild. 

The Kerry at Home. 

The head is small, although there are exceptions to this in various 
parts ; and so numerous, indeed, are these exceptions, that some describe 
the native Irish cattle as having thick heads and necks ; the horns are short, 
as compared with the other breed, all of them fine, some of them rather 
upright, and frequently, after projecting forward, then turning backward. 
Although somewhat deficient in the hind-quarters, they are high-boned, 
and wide over the hips, yet the bone generally is not heavy. The hair is 
coarse and long ; they are l)lack-brindled, black, or brindled, with white 
faces. Some are finer in the bone, and finer in the neck, with a good eye 
and sharp muzzle, and great activity. 

They are exceedingly hardy ; they live through the winter and some- 
times fatten on their native mountains and moors ; and when removed to 
a better climate and soil they fatten with all the rapidity of the aboriginal 



CATTLE, THE KERRY. 609 

cattle of the Highlands and Wales. They are generally very good 
milkers, and many of them are excellent. 

The cow of Kerry is truly a poor man's cow, living everywhere hardy, 
yielding (for her size) an abundance of milk and fattening rapidly. 

These cattle usually are small, and are confined to the hilly and moor 
grounds. Some are of considerably size, elsewhere, and are improved 
in form as well as weight. The horns, usually of middle length, turn 
' up, as do the horns of those on the mountains ; they are shorter in the 
leg, shorter in the body ; their loins and haunches are heavy and wide ; 
although the hair is thick, the hide is mellow, and they thrive with rapidity. 
This is as they were known many years ago. They have since been bred 
with care. The London Stock Journal of a late date says of them now ; 
"These characteristic points of the breed are unmistakably well marked. 
The size is small. The legs in most cases are very short in proportion to 
the size of the body. The head is somewhat small, though the muzzle 
is long and clean. The lips are thin ; the expression of the countenance 
is pleasing, and the eye is particularly clear and fairly prominent. A 
symptom which is most indicative of purity of breed is the ' ' turn up ' ' 
of the horn, which is of medium length. Occasionally, however, the 
horn will, after turning up, turn backwards. The nicety of the horn 
and the manner in which it is set on adds immensely to the style. The 
neck is not massive at the junction with the head, but it thickens gradu- 
ally, and affords reasonable covering to the shoulders. The latter are 
flat and thin. The dorsal vertebrae rise more than in other cattle, which 
sometimes gives the back an irregular appearance. The ribs spring well, 
especially the last of those approachmg the hip ; this makes the body 
very compact. The loins are of medium width, and the hip not promi- 
nent. The distance between the hip and the setting on of the tail is not 
considerable ; the latter hangs neatly, and is well concealed l)y the 
adjoining bones. The chest is full and deep, and the hind-quarters long, 
but rather light. The favorite color is black, though black and white, 
brown, and red, are by no means uncommon. The coat is invariably 
fine and thick, and the hide elastic and mellow, showing great capacity 
for the production of flesh and fat. 

"Sixteen quarts of milk per day may be regarded as the maximu'^ 
quantity the best specimens of the breed will give, and twelve quarts m:\y 
be regarded as a good average for the entire season. This is, of course, 
on good keep. The milk is rich in cream, and the butter delicate in flavor, 
superior in color, and, as in the case with the Jersey cows, one or two 
Kerries will give the milk of ten to fifteen other cows in the production 
of butter. As an indication of the richness of milk of the Kerry cow, 
eight to nine quarts are said to produce a pound of butter." 



610 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In relation to their adaptability to fatten, it is said to be a remarkable 
peculiarity of the breed, but they take a long time to mature. At three 
to four years of age they will not dress more than three to four hundred 
pounds of beef to the fore quarters. They are not however beef cattle, 
nor are they adapted, in this country, to dairying, except by mixing, to 
improve the messes. In fattening, however, when of mature age, they 
thrive most rapidly, and the beef in point of being well marbled, in flavor, 
and tenderness, is not excelled by that of any other breed. 

With proper care and breeding, there would seem to be capabilities in 
this breed well worth perpetuating and improving, especially now that 
dairying as a distinctive branch of agriculture is assuming such proportions 
in the United States, and particularly in the West. 

In relation to constitution, hardiness, etc., the authority last quoted 
says : "It is already observed, the hardy constitution of the Kerry most 
enhances its value ; for dairy purposes especially a remunerative 3deld is 
obtained on what would be to other animals 'starvation fare.' In the 
depth of the winter season I have not only known the animals to live 
jumping from rock to rock, and from cliff to cliff, picking a coarse scanty 
bite from among the mountains, but with very small additional keep at 
the farmsteading, whither they come to be milked morning and evening, 
to actually thrive under the circumstances. Few people think of housing 
the Kerry, either night or day, at any period of the year. When not 
giving any milk they remain for months away concealed in the raAdnes of 
mountain passes, seeking the best shelter they can from the excessive rain 
and snow storms with which their abodes are periodically visited. The 
hair is thick but fine and long — a provision of nature tyj)ical of cold 
latitudes. 

"What, however, is far more singular in the constitution of the breed, 
is the readiness with which it adapts itself to circumstances of a wholly 
reverse character. In acclimating breeds of cattle, sheep, or pigs, the 
transition must be gradual ; but with the Kerry we have it suddenly and 
indiscriminately transferred from its home in the mountains to the richest 
orazins; valleys which our island can boast of without experiencing the 
slightest change in regard to health. Not alone this, but we have seen 
the beasts ushered at once into the dairy sheds, and there confined for 
vears, in the closest bondage, without any apparent effect on the constitu- 
tion. They further enjoyed the full benefit of the change as well as if 
the new abode was their native habitation. It was for a time believed 
that the frame of the breed was impregnable to pi euro-pneumonia, or 
other contagious diseases. Recent experiments which have been con- 
ducted have failed to establish this view." 



CATTLE, I'OI.LKI). 



611 




Polled Angus Cow. 



Angus or Aberdeen Polls. 

There are but three promiuent beefing breeds in the world : the Short Horn, 
Hereford, and Angus or Aberdeen poll. 

Several others are eminent both in quality and adaptability to particular cir- 
cumstances, but none of them have proved equal to these three in all that goes 
to make the modern model ox on pasture or in the stall. Angus, or Forfar- 
shire, in Scotland, some fifty years ago, took up the important question of the 
improvement of its native cattle upon the principles then well known through 
the successes of Short Horn breeders, and ere long immense progress resulted. 
Hugh Watson, of Keillor, was the princi})al agent and worker-up of all this. 
He was unquestionably the father of not only this branch of these polls, but 
necessarily, as we shall see, also of that of the Aberdeen line. These cattle 
were hornless, black, good milkers, somewhat stiff fatteners and good at living 
on " nothing " upon the somewhat bleak rolling pastures of Angus. The 
stamp of animal now on hand by Mr. Watson's skill and perseverance is con- 
sequently very hardy, grand graziers, fattening and ripening early on pasture, 
and, as a natural result of man's interference, also good as stall feeders. 

The men of tliose parts and times were not indifferent to the illustrious 

Dnrham, as several j^urchases were already in possession of the more choice 

farms of the north of Scotland, but, in view of securing the more valuable 

characteristics of England's famous beefer_, along with a hardier constitution, 

39 



612 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



or one then supposed to be more suitable to the district, this Angus, or 
" Keillor Doddie " was established. 

The growing importance of the Angus breed led the farmers of Aberdeen- 
shire to consider the improvement of their own hornless black cattle, and in 
order to render this more certain and rapid, they made use of the larger and 
best specimens of the Angus. 

William McCombie, of Tillyfour, stood pre-eminent in this work. His 
object was to secure a larger frame, and, if possible, a better stall feeder than 
the " Watson " type, in short, a " Scotch Durham" and he succeeded beyond 
all expectation. 

These breeds had their separate herd books until three years ago, when, in 
consideration of their essential oneness, in history, points and characteristics, 
they were joined, and hence the new name, Angus or Aberdeen polls. 




PoLLKii AN(ii's Bull. 



At the present day, therefore, we have a polled or hornless breed of cattle, 
entirely black, with occasional spots of white on the belly and udder, a deep 
square frame, having all or nearly all the details that make up the modern 
Short Horn. With the exception, then, of the color and horn, the Angus or 
Aberdeen poll, is practically a Short Horn, but more able to do well on indifferent 
pastures, is as a whole better built behind the shoulder and arm, and decidedly 
better in quality of milk and producing good marbled flesh, though not so 
deep at the pail as the average Short Horn, nor probably so heavy when 
matured. 

It is evident from the circumstances under which this breed has been estab- 
lished — those of hill-side grazing, little grain, and plenty of hay, straw, and 
turnips, with severe winters and moderate summers, that for many parts of 



CATTLE, POLLED. 013 

the world they are superior to the Short Horn and Hereford. They have every 
year during the last quarter of a century so successfully competed with all 
other breeds that their extension in Britain and importation to most civilized 
countries is becoming a thing of common occurrence. 

The Ontario Experimental Farm has had a herd of them for five years, 
and as we write (April, 1881) we read of other purchases for other parts of 
Canada, as well as for the United States and Australia. 

In view of the great field now open for the raising of cattle upon the prairies 
of North America, several importations are being made of the best animals of 
this breed for the purpose of improving the common h^rds : 

Galloway Cattle. 

The Galloways we have seen have proved to be most admirable cattle, 
thick-meated, deep-flanked, short-legged, fine-haired animals. That 
they were considered most valuable cattle, and worthy of being brought 
here in the early settlement of the country, is evident from the fact that 
forty years ago these hornless or muley cattle, as they were termed, were 
not extremely rare, often breeding back by reversion entirely hornless or 
with but the rudiments of horns, as gentle and good milking cattle. 
Gentleness is a characteristic of the pure Galloway. Even the bulls are 
noted for their docility and quiet tempers. For the reason that thi's 
breed of cattle have of late years been growing in favor in the West as 
grazing and milking cattle, and for the further reason that it is thought 
that crossing the Galloway on the half-wild Texan will be most valuable, 
we append the following general characteristics of the breed. 

The Galloway cattle are straight and broad in the back, and nearly 
level from the head to the rump ; are round in the ribs, and also between 
the shoulders and the ribs, and the ribs and the loins, and broad in the 
loin, without any large projecting hook-bones. In roundness of barrel 
and fullness of ribs they will compare with any breed, and also in the 
proportion which the loins bear to the hook-bones or protuberances of 
the ribs. When viewed from above the whole body appears beautifully 
rounded, like the longitudinal section of a roller. They are long in the 
quarters and ribs, and deep in the chest, but not broad in the tmst. 
There is less space between the hook or hip-bones and the ribs than in 
most other breeds, a consideration of much importance, for the advan- 
tage of length of carcass consists in an animal being Avell-ribbed home, 
or as little space as possible lost in the flank. 

The Galloway is short in the leg, and moderately fine in the flank- 
bones — the happy medium preserved in the leg, which secures hardihood 
and disposition to fatten. With the same cleanness and shortness of 



614 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

shank, there is no breed so hirge and muscuhir above the knee, while 
there is more room for the deep, broad and capacious chest. He is clean, 
not fine and slender, but well proportioned in the neck and chaps ; a thin 
and delicate neck would not correspond with the broad shoulders, deep 
chest and close, compact form of the breed. The neck of the Galloway 
bull is thick almost to a fault. The head is rather heavy ; the eyes are 
not prominent ; and the ears are large, rough and full of long hairs on 
the inside. 

The Galloway is covered with a loose mellow skin of medium thick- 
ness, which is clothed with long, soft, silky hair ; th.e skin is thinner than 
that of the Leicestershire, but not so fine as the hide of the Short-Horn, 
although it handles soft and kindly. 

The prevailing and fashionable color is black ; a few are of a dark 
brindle brown, and still fewer are speckled with white spots, and some of 
them are of a dun color. Dark colors are uniformly preferred, from 
the belief that they indicate hardiness of constitution. 

The Galloway cows are not good milkers ; but although the quantity 
of milk is not great, it is rich in quality, and yields a large proportion of 
butter. A cow that gives from twelve to sixteen quarts per day is con- 
sidered very superior, and that quantity produces more than a pound and 
a half of butter. The average, however, of a Galloway cow cannot be 
reckoned at more than six or eight quarts per da}^ during the five 
summer months, after feeding her calf. During the next five months she 
does not give more than half that quantity, and for two or three months 
she is dry. There is, perhaps, no breed of cattle which can be more 
truly said to be indigenous to the country, and incapable of improvement 
by any foreign cross, than the Galloways. The Short-Horns almost 
everywhere else have improved the cattle of the districts to which they 
have traveled ; at least in the first cross produced manifest improvement ; 
but even in the first cross the Short-Horns have done little good in the 
Galloway, and, as a permanent mixture, the choicest southern bulls have 
failed. The intelligent Galloway breeder is now perfectly satisfied that 
his stock can only be improved by adherence to the pure breed, and by 
care in the selection. While this is undoubtedly true of all pure or 
thorough-bred stock, it seems especially so of the Galloways to-day. It 
does not however follow that pure breeds may not improve the mixed 
stock of a country. They must and do, as the magnificent Short-Horn, 
Hereford and Devon grades amply testify in all our great markets. 
That the Galloways have many valuable points cannot be denied. One 
of these is their absence of horns ; another is their extreme docility. If 
by crossing Galloway bulls with Texan cows their horns could be toned 
down their wildness tamed, their frames thickened with superior flesh, 



TEXAN, OR SPANISH CATTLE. 616 

their milking qualities improved, and the whole animal ameliorated, it 
would seem as possible with the Galloway as by any other means we 
know. It is certainly well worthy of trial. 

Texan Cattle. 

Within the last few years certain theorists have harbored the idea that 
the immense herds that cover the great plains of Texas, Mexico, and 
America are a race native to the soil, and that have existed there from 
time immemorial. Such however is well known not to be the fact. As 
well may the great droves of horses that occupy the same region be said 
to be a native and wild race. On the contrary, their well known char- 
acteristics, and similarity to the Spanish cattle and all that country including 
Austria, Hungary, and other regions bordering the Mediterranean, Black 
jind Caspian seas, points distinctly to their origin, if, indeed, it were not 
well known that they were introduced by the Spanish settlers about the 
year 1500 and succeeding years. In fact, neither cattle or horses were 
known in America prior to the Spanish invasion, and that they have mul- 
tiplied so amazingly since is due to the genial climate and abundant 
pasturage, so that the original cattle brought by the Spaniards succeeding 
the discovery of the various countries along the Gulf of Mexico and 
South America, has caused them to spread over all the region from Cali- 
fornia to a latitude south, bound only by a line beyond which the coldness 
of the climate precluded constant Winter and Summer herbage. 

Unlike the wild buffalo, a race indigenous to America, cattle are not 
migratory to any considerable extent. Not so much so as horses. Hence 
while the buffalo is found in Summer far north, even into the British pos- 
sessions, cattle have never been found beyond the limits of abundant 
Summer and Winter pasturage, and they have never been brought into 
subjection by the Avild Indians of the plains as were the horses, that escap- 
ing from domestication gradually increased and occupied in a wild state 
many valleys to which cattle never reached. 

Characteristics of Spanish Cattle. 

This race of cattle should therefore be called Spanish cattle — what 
they really are ; gaunt, bony, long-horned cattle, semi- wild, capable of 
great endurance of heat, and adapted to the dry but fertile regions they 
have gradually overrun. So vast has become their numbers that ten 
years ago these cattle were estimated at 4,000,000 in Texas and New 
Mexico, being in point of numbers about one-seventh of all the horned 
cattle in the Union. Semi-wild, impatient of restraint, lean and lank in 
body, high-boned, furnishing but little meat, and that of an inferior 



616 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



quality, giving little more milk than wild buffalo — scarcely enough for a 
few months Summer support of a calf — they were for generations run 
down like wild beasts and slaughtered for their hides and scanty tallow. 
The gradual settlement of the country, and the increasing demand for 
beef, both in Europe and America, at length caused them to be moved 
north into Kansas for summer pasturage, whence they were driven to the 
nearest railway station, shipped east and slaughtered, either for packing, 
or sold at an inferior price for consumption of flesh. 

Various attempts have been made to reduce them to subjection to man 
so they might be divided into small herds to be confined in pastures or 
fed in winter. It has been in every instance unsuccessful. They remain 
shy, wild, irritable, and rfefuse to fatten kindly. The writer, immediately 




A TEXAS STEER. 

aftb. \e close of the war, having a large quantity of forage and fatten- 
ing material, with mills for grinding corn, and stables for the accommo- 
dation of 450 cattle, on account of scarcity of stock was obliged to put 
inTexans. 

Feeding Texan s in Confinement. 

They were bought in Kansas and were known as Cherokee cattle, a 
modified form of Texans, bred by the civilized tribes of the Indian reser- 
vations occupying the territory between Kansas and Texas. They had to 
be lassoed and dragged into the stables and made fast to the stanchions, 



TEXAN, OR SPANISH CATTLE. 617 

from which they could not be allowed to escape until turned off in the 
Spring. Underground pipes conveyed their drniking water, the feed, 
ground corn and hay, together with residuum from a mill was conveyed 
to them by cars on tramways running between each two lines of cattle. 
The stables were kept only light enough so that the workmen could see 
to feed and clean ; good ventilation was provided, and at the end of six 
months they were turned out, and shipped to New York, — ^good ripe cat- 
fle so far as Texan s could be made such, — and brought the price of fat 
cattle in the market there. Of this lot only two car-loads were culls or 
unfit for the New York market. They were strictly corn-fed, or rather 
meal-fed. For the first month they were sulky and savage, refusing to 
take kindly to their rations. They never became so quiet that strangers 
could be allowed in the barns \\ithout danger of throwing them off their 
feed, and yet they were altogether superior to the ordinary Texan cattle 
of ten years ago in point of docility, for they had been closely herded. 
Nevertheless, the one experiment was sufficient. If other cattle could 
have been had at a fair price it would not have paid to have fed them. 
At that time good cattle were high and scarce, Texans were cheap. The 
ledger account came out all right in the Spring, but the writer did not 
care to try the experiment a second time. As to how they looked when 
off of grass and ready for the stable in the Fall, the full page illustration 
we have prepared will show : 

Weight of Texan Cattle. 

The average weight of full grown Texan steers as usually sold from 
grass in the Western markets, maybe stated at 1,000 pounds ; of this 
the average beef and bone will be 400 to 450 pounds : of the balance, 
except the hide, it is pretty much offal, the tallow being exceeding light. 
Of late years very many Texas cattle are yearly bought for feeding in 
distillery stables, on the slop made in the manufacture of high wines. 
They are roped and fastened and remain there until sold to the butcher. 
Others again are bought in the Autumn and shipped to the vast corn-fields 
of Kansas, Iowa and Illinois, and fed in the fields during the Winter. 
They really take more kindly to this latter system of feeding than any 
other, and they will gain about two hundred pounds of flesh during the 
Winter, weighing an average of 1,200 pounds, and making in the neigh- 
borhood of 700 pounds of beef. 

From what we have stated it will readily be seen that there is no profit 
in breeding Texans, when other cattle ma}^ be kept. There are, however, 
vast outlying territories where the herding of these cattle is found profit- 
able. In Texas, New Mexico, the Indian Territory, Western Kansas and 



618 



ILLLSTIJATEU ST(K K DCJCrrOR. 




TEXAN, OK SPANISH CATTLE. 619 

Nebraska and Dakota, in the valleys of Montana and Wyoming, thev 
may have unlimited range, and enjoy their semi-wild condition, and fat- 
tened on grass may be shipped east to be slaughtered and barreled for 
export, or fattened as we have previously stated. Of late years enterpris- 
ing herdsmen have bought great quantities of Short-Horn and Hereford 
bulls to be used in the improvement of their stock. The effects are 
already apparent. It is well understood now that the produce of either 
of the bulls we have mentioned, in the first cross, produce an animal 
much superior to the dam, and which will sell at three or four years old 
for nearly double what the natives will. The cows give a largely 
increased quantity of milk, they make better and fatter calves ; and here 
again is a conclusive illustration to the breeders of cattle everywhere, of 
the utility of improved breeds in inducing early maturity, increasing the 
weight and improving the quality of the beef. 

Profits in Breeding Grades from Texans. 

Within the last ten years fortunes have been made in herding Texas 
cattle, not only in that State, but in various Territories of the United 
States. There are two essential requisites ; plenty of good grass for Sum- 
mer and Winter pasturage, and abundance of water. The latter is the 
essential. Many persons have failed in their efforts to profitably breed 
Texas cattle on the plains, for the reason, that water was either not near, 
or insufficient in supply. The cattle must go long distances to slake their 
thirst, and consequently become very dry and uncomfortable before start- 
ing to the watering place. Then they drink such immoderate quantities 
of water, as again to be uncomfortable for some time, and will, if allowed, 
hang about the water, on scant grass, until again forced to take the range. 
Thus they cannot gain in flesh uniformly, but on the other hand, abso- 
lutely lose condition in the constant travel necessary to get water. Perhaps 
some epidemic sets in, and they die by hundreds, and the owner finds 
himself the loser, simply from entering into a business hastily, and with- 
out studying carefully the absolute necessities in the case. 

There is another class of failures. These have been persons who have 
supposed they could take fifty cows, and make money by herding them 
until groAvn up. In all that wild region inhabited by Indians more or less 
predatory, the force about a ranch must be strong enough for some pro- 
tection. The profits must come principally from the increase in cattle. 
If the small herder has water privileges, he can make money if he has 
stock enough. If he has but few, the expense of herding will be the same 
as when the herd is larger. Owners of other and large herds, or those 
seeking to become such, will not take kindly to the appropriation of water 



620 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

privileges, for so small a drove. There will be quarrels ; cattle wiU be 
stampeded, and get mixed with other herds, and at last the owner will be 
obliged either to leave, or take a partner with sufficient capital to properly 
stock the ranch. 

The yearly increase in value of cattle on the ranch will be all the way 
from 25 to 50 per cent, according as the business is managed. In north- 
west Texas the value of cattle on the ranch is for yearlings $6 ; two year 
old |10 ; three year old $13 ; cows |12 to $15 ; beeves $15 to $20. 

The Cattle Interest of Texas. 

To give some idea of the vast numbers of cattle in all that region 
where there is abundant pasturage and water, it has been estimated that, 
from the Red River, in Clay county, west to the Pease River, and south 
to the Colorado, embracing a territory of perhaps twenty-five thousand 
miles, the whole region is now stocked to its fullest capacity, and in the 
better portions thereof, it is estimated that an average of one head may be 
kept to eight acres. The loss in cattle may be estimated at about four or 
five per cent, per year, and the expense of herding 300 head and their 
produce, has been given as follows : 



DR. 

To three hundred cows and calves $ 3,000 

To two imported bulls, $125 250 

To one man's time and board for live years, $300 per year 1,500 

To one man's time and board for three years, $300 per year 900 

To sundry items of expense 350 

Total $ 6,000 

CE. 

By three hundred five year olds. $18 $ 5.400 

By three hundred four year olds $15 4,500 

By three hundred three year olds, $12 : 3,600 

By three hundred two year olds, $10 3,000 

By three hundred one year olds, $6 1,800 

By three hundred old cows, $10 3,000 

By two bulls, $100 200 

Total $21,500 

Less loss 25 per cent 5,300 

$16,200 
Original investment 6,000 

Profit in five years $10,200 



This is approximately correct, except as to the value of the bulls, if 
by these are meant acclimated thorough-bred bulls of Short-Horn, 
Hereford, or Galloway blood. It is well known that it is useless to take 
mature bulls or other cattle raised in the North, to Texas. They die off 
with Texas fever before they have time to leave their impress to any 



TEXAN, OR SPANISH CATTLE. 621 

considerable extent. An acclimated bull two years old past, should be 
worth $250. Not less than three such bulls should be used in the herd 
of 300 cows. The second year 150 heifers will be in breeding condition, 
and the increase will then be increasingly fast. The fourth year two more 
bulls must be bought, and at the end of the five years, the three first 
bulls will be practically of little value. With these exceptions, the 
figures may be taken as correct. 

Acclimating Improved Bulls. 

The serious losses that have constantly occurred from the death of 
thorough-bred bulls sent to Texas for the purpose of infusion of blood 
has prevented, to a great extent, the improvement of the stock. In all 
the plains regions of the West this difficulty has not been so severely 
felt. The improved breeds take kindly to the Summer climate and only 
require protection in Winter, and if put with a herd in which the germs 
of Texas fever have been eliminated are healthy. Not so those taken to 
Texas. Whatever the cause of the disease, it is certain that nearly every 
animal taken there has succumbed to this dread disorder, if placed 
immediately in the herd, and generally before they have had time to 
serve more than from twenty to forty cows, and from weakened condition 
the impress they have left has been deficient in vigor to that of either 
the sires or dams. 

Select Your Bulls- 

To obviate this a thorough system of acclimation must be established. 
And above all none but very young animals should be taken. In every 
case they should be calves of early Spring, bought when they are eight 
months old. The cars in which they are carried should be carefully 
prepared, to provide for the comfort of the animals. Pay particular 
attention to feeding and watering regularly so as to keep the bulls 
vigorous and strong. 

Buy none but animals of parents and families of known soundness and 
vigor of constitution. Avoid all fancy or highly in-bred families. Ab- 
jure excessive style and fineness, and look only to the single points, 
constitutional soundness and vigor, and thick beef. It is l)etter that they 
be a little rough from having been bred out of doors, and with out-of- 
door care, rather than stable bred, pampered animals. Such are not even 
fit to put with the breeding herds of the plains. To carry them to the' 
very home of Spanish, or as it is now called Texas fever, can only result in 
loss. When they arrive establish them in good, well ventilated stables. 



622 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and under the supervision of a keeper who fully understands both breeding 
and raising, and do not allow them to mingle with the native cattle until 
they are at least two years old ; and, no contact should be allowed with 
stock that are known to show indications of the malady. One more sug- 
gestion : the bulls should not be freely used as breeders until they are 
twenty months old. In acclimating the bulls, watch for the first sjniiptoms 
of the fever, and give prompt treatment at the first discovery of the dis- 
ease. This may be known by the restlessness of the animal. The eyes 
will be dull, the movements constrained and moping, there will be more 
or less straining in the attempt to urinate ; that voided will be scanty, high 
colored, and of bad odor ; and the bowels may be costive or very much 
relaxed. Treatment, said to be most successful, is to give at the first in- 
dication of the disease one tablespoonful of finely pounded charcoal, and 
one teaspoonful of ground ginger, to be followed in an hour with a quart 
of strong decoction of marsh mallow, and one quart of camomile tea. 
This to be repeated in ten hours if the animal does not get relief. If 
marsh mallow can not be obtained, salt peter is recommended. This 
remedy, however, had better be given under the direction of a veterinary 
fitirgeon. Above all, endeavor to keep the pores of the sldn active hy 
brushing and friction. By proper care in this direction it is stated that 
ninety per cent, of the cases treated can be saved. 

In all this, care of course must be taken in regard to the food of the 
animal. Bran, boiled oats, and corn, or corn meal, may be given ; if roots, 
carrots, parsnips, or sugar beets can be had they will be excellent. In 
fact they should always be kept in supply on breeding farms. Grass in 
plenty and of good quality should also be supplied freely. 

A Texan's View. 

An intelligent and educated correspondent of the Live Stock Journal y 
gives the following excellent advice in relation to the transportation, care, 
and feedins: of stock bulls to be carried to Western Texas. He advises 
that care should be used in the selection of calves of stout, robust frames, 
the offspring of sires and dams of good constitutions. Calves dropped in 
the early Spring will be found most suitable for shipment say about the 
last of November or early in December. Plenty of milk from birth until 
September should be given them ; then they should be fed on wheat bran, 
boiled oats, and crushed corn, until date of shipment ; and if kept in stables 
.during the day they should have a good grass lot to gi'aze in during the 
night. They should be handled, made very gentle, and well broken to 
the halter. The cars for transportation should be well bedded, and food 
for the entire trip transported with the stock. 



TEXAX, OR SPANISH CATTLE. 623 

Arrangements should also be made for through trip when starting. 
Food, water, and careful watching by the herdsmen will land them at 
the place of disembarkation but little damaged by the trip. Care should 
be taken not to crowd too many in one car — thirty head can be taken if 
they are properly cared for — yet twenty-five head would do much better. 
The calves designed for shipment in one car, if more than one is to be 
sent, should he permitted to run together for some time previous to 
starting. 

After reaching the terminus of their wearisome journey by rail, a week's rest, 
in dry lots, should be granted them, with the same kind of food as was used 
before shipment. When taken any distance slow and easy travel should 
be given them. If either eostiveness or its opposite is exhibited, simple 
remedies should be given to prevent the too active purging or relieve the 
constipation. The preparation for their reception at their Texas home 
should have been completed before their arrival ; and in addition to a 
supply of corn, oats, and wheat bran, pure running water and free access 
to a growing oats or barley patch, which should have been sowed in early 
Autumn for their benefit, should be allowed. Suitable protection must 
be provided to guard them from the cold blasts of the "northers ;" then, 
by prompt attention to any symptoms of fever and the immediate use of 
charcoal and ginger, one table-spoonful of charcoal and one tea-spoonful 
of ginger will relieve them. 

If December and January are passed without fever you can feel safe 
from its ravages until the rains of Spring, followed by the heat of June, 
V'hen the ticks and vermin menace them. Then avoid exposing them to 
either rain or sun, and destroy the vermin by a free use of coal oil and 
lird, using two parts of the latter to one of the former. If only Spring 
calves are brought there will be less of fever than if older animals were 
brought. 

Too many speculators, who bring young stock to Texas, stint and half 
starve them, thinking that to keep them in good growing condition 
i;icreases the chances of disease. M}^ observation teaches the reverse to 
be true. To secure a complete development of bone, flesh and gro^vth, 
and early, profitable maturity, a calf must have generous care, plenty of 
nutritious food, good water, and kind treatment. I have heard men 
complain that Texas Short-Horns are not thrifty and handsome, like 
those exhibited at Northern fairs. The reason for the dissimilarity is 
readily found on investigation to be that the one had excellent feeding 
and gi'owing, while the other — in addition to a long winter, starvation, 
and acclimation, with a Spring and Summer "vvith rain and hot sun — had 
his vitality almost destroyed by ticks and vermin. Cattle from the North 
cannot be acclimated unless generous food, comfortable quarters, and 



624 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

kind treatment are given to them during their first year in Texas ; and 
unless this treatment be kept up they are worthless when acclimated. They 
will be weak and sickly in spite of the best efforts to the contrary. Care as 
to condition of animals will always pay. That which costs us the greatest 
pains in cattle raising will always reward us the best. 



CHAPTER n. 



BREEDING AND FEEDING. 



In the breeding of animals, one must have a definite object in view. 
We have already stated that in this age of civilization, where industry is 
divided and subdivided, so that each set of workmen have separate and 
distinct lines of labor in the make up and finish of the most simple articles, 
so in stock breeding, the farmer must understand the nature and adapta- 
tion of his soil, and its adaptability to certain crops and animals. In 
rocky, hilly, and comparatively barren regions, or where the soil suffers 
under drought, the farmer cannot compete, either in the raising of beef 
cattle, or in dairying, with the more favored well matured countries of 
deep soils and flush pastures. Again, in a country noted for its short, 
sweet perennial pastures, and cold springs of water, the stock breeder 
cannot compete with the dairyman. The stock feeder of cattle and hogs 
must be in a region where corn, or other feeding grains can be cheaply 
and abundantly raised. Fortunately, such countries are well adapted to 
the meadow grasses, producing heavy crops of hay and pasture. 

About Grasses. 

Here again, the grasses cultivated will be somewhat different. The 
stock feeder will depend shiefly upon blue grass, timothy, red top, orchard 
grass, and clover, and where blue grass is natural to the soil, he will de- 
pend almost solely upon this grass, for late fall and winter feeding, as he 
will upon blue grass and orchard grass for spring feeding, depending later 
on clover, timothy and red top. The dairyman, while he will depend 
upon clover, timothy, red top and orchard grass for hay, will not use these 
for pasture exclusively. He must have in his permanent pastures a great 

625 



626 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

variety of grasses. His pastures, to produce the greater quantity and 
best quality of milk, must be permanent ones, and the older the better. 
This with a moist climate is what has made some sections of England, and 
especially Ireland, Holland, and Denmark so celebrated for their dairy 
products. This, also, with the peculiar care given in feeding, has made 
England and Scotland celebrated throughout the world, not only for the 
heavy weight, and superior quality of the beef, but it has resulted in such 
superior beef cattle as the world has never before known. Some of these 
breeds, transplanted to the United States, have taken kindly to our soil 
and climate. The wonderful fertility of the land lying west of the Alle- 
ghanies and north of the southern line of Tennessee, and especially those 
States bordering upon the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and principal 
tributaries, and, also, the great Southwest — this teeming fertility of 
soil has made all this great region of country the true home of the most 
celebrated breeds of cattle — where they have reached weight, and rich- 
ness of milk given, no where else attained except iu very confined areas. 

What Breeds are Best? 

This becomes a most important question. In all that great region of 
the West, of gentle undulating prairies or grassy plains, Short-Horns and 
Herefords will be found the very best cattle to breed from, when only 
beef is the object. If labor and beef are wanted, the Devons and Here- 
fords will be found most valuable. If beef and milk are to be the pro- 
ducts, the Duchess and Princess families of Short-Horns, and the Holsteins 
will give the best returns. If dairying is to be the chief industry, then, 
for butter, the Ayrshire, with a few of Jerseys intermixed will produce 
the best results. If for butter and cheese, Ayrshire or Short-Horns. If 
cheese alone, the Holstein, and for quantity of milk given this latter 
breed will certainly carry the palm. If milk and butter, without refer- 
ence to quantity, be required, the Jersey is the cow. All the breeds 
except the Jerseys will make good weights of beef and fatten readily 
when dry — the Short-Horns, Holsteins, and Ayrshires making weight 
in the order named. For milk, we have not included the Devons ; occa- 
sionally a cow will be found giving a large mess for her weight. Devons, 
however, are not dairy cows, at least, now-a-rdays ; having been bred most 
exclusively for their superior quality of marbled beef, and their uniform 
excellence, courage, and kindliness in the yoke. 

How to Breed. 

All farmers cannot become breeders of highly bred, pure stock. For 
this the animals must be isolated from all other breeds of the same race. 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 627 

At least the males must be strictly confined, so they may not intermix 
with others. Where farms join, divided only by fences, this will not be 
found practicable in a majority of cases. One's neighbor may fancy scrub 
stock. They are notoriously breachy. Once they intermingle with a 
pure breed, the taint of their blood is not only found in the calves, but 
in the dams themselves. In the calves and their progeny, it may never 
be bred out. We see the Kyloe cross in some families of Short-Horns, 
even to this da}^ cropping out in single individuals after a lapse of nearly 
a centurv. The writer so saw it at the last fat-stock show in Chicago — 
that of 1879. The animal was a most excellent specimen ; fully as per- 
fect as many of the very highest breeding, yet the taint of the family 
was thgre and the breeder of "high caste Short-Horns" would not have 
bred from such a cow or to a bull showing the taint, at any price. 

About General Utility. 

Just here is where the difference comes in, as between breeding for 
o-eneral utility or absolute purity of blood. The breeder for general util- 
itv cares not so much about a particular strain of blood, as he does to get 
certain characteristics that will furnish him, at the least expense, either 
the most l)ecf, the best working oxen, or the most and the best milk. 
Those who undertake breeding, or in fact an}'- other business, in a hap- 
hazard way, always fail ; the only exception to the rule being pure luck. 
Luck is not a good business integer to depend upon. Like lightning, it 
never strikes twice in the same place. 

There is another thing in connection with luck that it is well to bear in 
mind. It is as apt to mar as to mark. The farmer, therefore, who 
undertakes the breeding of stock, with a view to the money they will 
brino- from the butcher, or from the sale of dairy products, must be 
fruided bv an entirely different set of rules from that of the breeder who 
breeds solely with a view to selling sires and dams to other breeders of 
pure stock. So particular, now-a-days, have breeders of this class 
become that some of them will breed only particular families. Some 
will not allow a Booth cross, others abstain from the Bates blood. 

Many hiiih caste breeders are pretty w^ell agreed that a top cross of 
wliat are known as seventeens, and some other sub-families of later 
importations, and also of particular bulls of pure breeding, but which 
have been considered more or less coarse, must be rigidly excluded. 
They have their particular fancies. To gratify this fancy they will pay 
extraordinary prices, while the great mass of really superior and really 
pure Short-Horns will be passed unnoticed. It would be unad^asable for 
the ordinary farmer, or even the Short-Horn breeder to buy these 
40 



628 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

"terribly bred cattle." And the farmer must carefully discriminate. 
Let him get staunch healthy cattle to start his herd, if beef be the object, 
and animals with good milk points if milk be the object, rather than tct 
strive for color. So long as the color of the animal is characteristic 
of the race, the beef points and the milk points are what he should seek. 
The body in the beef animal, and the udder in the dairy cow, is what 
he wants. 

Breeding in Line. 

Breeders of pure stock are especially particular m the selection of 
sires ; so much so that many of them breed solely with reference to the 
strain of blood particular families contain, the selection often being 
without reference to the uniformity or quality of the animals selected. 
Really, however, breeding in line means the selection of males of a 
common type, and belonging to the same family. Thus in breeding 
in-the-line, the expert, while he objects to going out of a sub-family, 
nevertheless seeks to couple animals together whose uniformity is identi- 
cal, or, when one is weak in some essential, to improve it by coupling 
therewith an animal of superior excellence in this particular. Thus, if 
the head and horns be rather coarse in an animal, it is bred to one fine in 
head and horns, but not lacking in other essentials. It is one of the 
most fatal mistakes that can possibly be made in breeding, that to 
acquire one essential other disabilities be allowed to enter. Many 
breeders have committed irreparable injury to their stock by not under- 
standing the necessity, while trying to improve one essential, of keeping 
all others intact. Therefore the sagacious breeder vnW pay more 
attention to those points indicative of heavy succulent beef laid in the 
primer points and without an undue proportion of fat, if combined with 
general symmetry, rather than style and carriage, connected with 
.deficient characteristics in flesh. The one animal may be striking to the 
eye, while the other will bring the butcher's money. This is really all 
there is to beef cattle. 

Form as an Index to Quality. 

Whatever the animal, its form, organization and general make up, will 
be an indication of its true type and character. It is a fixed Uiav of nature 
that this should be so. A few illustrations will sufiice, and which will 
easily commend themselves to the reader. 

The thorough-bred horse, is courageous, high strung, active, sinewy, 
impatient under restraint, and not given to carry much flesh or fat. The 
heavy draft horse, carries much flesh, is docile, honest at the collar, pos- 



I 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 629 

sessing great bone and sinew, and Is on the Avhole more sluggish. The 
horse of all work should be a modification of both these characteristics. 
All horses have great chests, and consequently great lung power, fitting 
them for severe and long continued muscular exertion. They must be 
judged by a standard where muscular exertion is the important integer. 
Cattle have been bred so long with reference to their bodies, as beef or 
milk producers, that they have become so distinct from the supposed wild 
type as to possess but little in common therewith. The head, neck and 
limbs, have been refined, the lungs have less power, since it is only neces- 
sary that they supply sufficient oxygen to the blood to keep up a uniform 
animal heat under exercise, never violent. The loin and rump are broad- 
ened, the ribs spring out more to give capacity for a stomach of size to 
digest a large quantity of food. In swine the diminution of lung power 
is particularly seen. They are essentially slow in all their movements, 
and averse to exertion. Their forte is simply eating, sleeping and laying 
on fat. No one would mistake a hog for either an ox or a horse. The 
intellijjent breeder so educates his eve and his touch, that he can distin- 
guish between animals of any given race as to their capabilities for the 
purpose intended. The external conformation comes at length to be so 
keenly associated wdth the correlated structural affinities, that he tells at 
once, and exactly, the important points that would entirely escape the un- 
educated eye and touch. 

Practical Suggestions. 

As the greatest excellence in the production of meat, milk or labor in 
cattle ; of wool and carcass in sheep ; and of hams, loin, side meat and 
lard in hogs, involves peculiarities of structure and function — adapting 
the animal to the special purpose for Avliich it was intended, and as all 
these require close study of anatomy, physiology, and the correlations ex- 
isting in the different forms of production ; and since scientific breeders 
have for the last hundred vcars been seeking to establish a hioher and 
higher excellence, the intending breeder would be unwise to undertake 
to breed up from the common herds of the country. It would be time 
ill spent. He should first inform himself of the practical necessities 
within his reach, and breed from types already existing rather than create 
one. This Avill simplify his study, he must educate his eye b}'^ points and 
the observation of the best animals, and his touch by feeling them accord- 
ing to the rule heretofore given ; and this brings us to 

Breeding Grades 
At the meeting of the American Association of Short-Horns, at Indi» 



630 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

napolis, 1872, "pure-bred," "full-blood," and "thorough-bred," were 
defined as being synonymous terms, and to indicate "animals of a distinct 
and Avell-defined breed, without any admixture of other blood." The fol- 
lowing definitions were adopted by the association. 

"'Cross-bred' — Animals produced by breeding together distinct 
breeds." 

"'Grades' — The produce of a cross between a 'pure-bred' and a 
'native.'" 

"'High grade' — An animal of mixed blood, in which the blood of a 
pure-bred predominates." 

The produce of a Devon and a Short-Horn would be a cross bred 
animal. In-and-in breeding is considered to be the coupling of animals 
of the closest relationship, as the produce of one sire and dam, etc. 
Close breeding is the breeding of animals together that are closely related ; 
as animals one or two removes from the parent stock, in relationship. 
High breeding is sometimes incorrectly used in this connection ; it is 
wrong. Man}' of our most highly bred horses are not closely related, 
and the same ma}' be said of our pure cattle. High breeding properly 
signifies the selection of the breeding stock, within the limits of some 
particular family, and within a definite standard of excellence and 
characteristics. 

How to Breed Grades. 

Select the best cows you can find, that is, those that come the nearest 
to the standard of excellence for the purpose wanted ; then select a bull 
combining in the most eminent degree possible the points of real excel- 
lence for the outcome expected, not in fancy breeding but in adaptability 
to the end sought. Thus, if for beef, he should be of fair size, not too 
large, certainly not too small, but of excellent fineness combined with 
great loins, rumps and thighs, round-ribbed, and well ribbed to the 
hip bones, — in other words, what a breeder would call a well-bred, serviceable 
animal. 

If for milk, the bull must have come of a line of uniform milkers, for 
here the udder and milk-veins are the essential part. In fact, the male 
must possess the peculiarities characteristic of the breed, and better if 
from a family of extraordinary excellence. Why? Such animals are pre- 
potent ; that is, they will impress upon their progeny the distinguishing 
characteristics and excellence of their race. By following the directions 
we shall give, in ten years one may have grades bred to such excellence 
that none but the most critical judges of stock can tell them from pure bred 
cattle. 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 631 

Start the Herd 

With one yearling bull for each ten two-year-old heifers, selected as 
we have stated, and which have not l)een bred. Keep them from contact 
with other cattle, and especially keep their own bull as much in their 
sight as possible. The next year's produce should be ten calves, one- 
half of which should be heifers. Geld the steers, and make what use 
may be desired of them. Rear the heifer calves in the best manner pos- 
sible, and with their sire and dams Avhen in the pasture, and at other 
times do not allow them to see strangely marked animals, especially 
when in heat. 

At the age of two years breed them to their sire. He will now be 
four years old, and should be kept simply in good flesh, not really fat, 
certainly not lean ; but strong, vigorous and healthy. When these calves 
are two years old, breed again to the same sire, and so on to the fourth 
generation, if he last so long with vigor. 

Thus this produce will inherit 15-1 (j of the blood of the sire, being the 
fourth generation from the original sire and dam. It may be formulated 
thus : at one year from starting the herd, j^ou have the first generation ; 
at four years the second ; at seven years the third ; and at ten years the 
fourth generation. They Avill grade as follows : First, one-half bloods : 
second, three-quarter bloods : third, seven-eighths bred ; and fourth, 
fifteen-sixteenth bred. 

Besides these you will also have generations successively from the orig- 
inal cows, or seven-eighths, three-fourths and one-half bred heifers 
corresponding with the succeeding 3'ears from the first. If these again 
have been bred to the same bull, or another pure bred bull, their produce 
will be respectively fifteenth-sixteenths and seven-eighths bred. 

Ten Years' Produce. 

Let us now figure how much stock, young and old, will be the produce 
of this system, allowing that none have died. In one year, from the ten 
cows and one bull, we have ten calves, five heifers and five steers ; the 
second year, ten calves, the third year ten calves, the fourth year ten 
calves. This year we have also five calves, the produce of the first year's 
calves. The sixth year we will have twenty-five calves, the seventh year 
thirty, the eighth year thirty-five, the ninth year forty, and the tenth year 
forty-five calves as the produce of the original cows and their progeny, 
making in all two hundred and forty animals ranging in age from 
calves to thirteen years old, of which one hundred and twenty-five should 
be females. 



632 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Selection. 



Just here selection may come in. Some of the cows and their progeny 
will have proved superior beef makers or milkers, according as they were 
orio-inallv chosen. Their progeny should be carefuU}^ raised and bred. 
It may seem dreadful, this incestuous breeding, but please remember, it 
is animals that are the subjects. The records of the imi)rovement of ani- 
mals and their erection into tixed breeds, will show very much closer 
in-and-in breeding than this. The object is not only to throw the good 
qualities in a lump, but to fix them by concentration. Thus a cow bred 
durino; her whole breeding life to one bull, never having had contact with 
another, will bring her calves nearer and nearer to the sire year by year, 
through the infusion of the blood of the sire into the dam, through inter- 
circulation by means of the fcetus, during its growth. 

As showing close in-and-in we find in the first volume of the American 
Herd Book a diagram of the breeding of Comet from Hubback, and Lady 
Mavnard. It is explained as follows : 



Bull, Hubback. 

Dam of Haughton. 

Richard Barker's Bull. 

Cow, Haughton. 

Bull, Foljambe. 

Cow, Young Strawberry. 

Bull, Dalton Duke. 



8. Cow, Lady Maynard. 

9. Bull, Bolingbroke. 

10. Cow, Lady Maynard. 

11. Cow, Phcenix. 

12. Cow, Young Phcenix. 

13. Bull, Favorite. 

14. Bull, Comet. 



In relation to Favorite or Lady Maynard, Mr. A. B. Allen says : It was 
conceded by a company of old breeders in 1812, in discussing the question 
of the improvement of Short Horns, that no stock of Mr. Colling's ever 
eiiualled Lady "Maynard" the dam of Phoenix, andgranddam of Favorite 
(by Foljaml)e) and of young Phcenix (by Favorite, her son, upon his own 
Hiother,) the dam of Comet 155) so celebrated as having been sold for 
1000 guineas $5000) also by Favorite, a specimen of as close-in-and-in- 
breeding as can perhaps be found on record. 

To show wonderful depth of in-breeding with continued good results, 
the cow Clarissa may be mentioned ; she possessed sixty-three sixty-fourths 
of the blood of Favorite. Her pedigree runs thus : "Cow Clarissa, roan, 
calved in 1814. Bred by Mr. R. Colling, got by Wellington (680) out 
(,f — by Favorite, (852) — ^by Favorite, — by Favorite, — by Favorite — by 
Favorite — ^by Favorite — by a son of Hubback. 

Wellington, the sire of Clarissa, was also deeply inbred with the blood 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 633 

of Favorite. Taking the two pedigrees — that of Clarissa and Welling- 
ton together — they will read thus : 

1. Bull, Hubback. 10. 6th cow by Favorite. 

2. Son of Hubback. 11. Claris:?a. 

3. Cow, by son of Hubback. 12. Bull Wellington, sire of Clarissa. 

4. Bull Favorite. 13. Bull, Comet. 
."). 1st cow by Favorite. 14. Cow, Wildair. 

(>. 2nd cow by Favorite. 15. Cow, Young Phcenix. 

7, 3rd cow by Favorite. 115. Cow Phoenix. 

<S. 4th cow by Favorite. 4. Same bull Favorite on the side of 

Clarissa's sire as on the side of 
her dam. 
y. 5th cow by Favorite. 17. Bull, Bolingbroke. 

18. Granddaughter of Hubback. 

Exercise Common Sense. 

In breeding so closely as we have advised it will be necessary that 
intelligent judgment be used. The eifect of in-and-in breeding is to 
refine and render delicate the constitution. Animals closely in-bred, in 
fact all highly bred animals require better care than those of a coarser 
nature. They are not as able to take care of themselves, to shift for them- 
selves ; are in fact artificial. But on the other hand they will repay the 
care and attention bestowed, in increased profits for the food given. In 
in-and-in, or other very close breeding, care must be taken to give the 
animals an out cross as soon as you find they are suffering in constitution 
and hardiness ; in fact when you find they are no longer getting better 
and better seek another sire, and so continue until you have got animals 
fully equal to any thorough-bred for all practical purposes, and that ^hall 
at the same time be marked with vigor as Avell as the characteristics 
wanted, whether they be for beef or milk, or both. 

Once having begun, however, \dth pure sires on native stock, ne\er by 
any chance allow a grade animal to become a sire, no matter how good 
he may be. It can only result in loss, M'hatever the attempt at imi)rove- 
ment l)e in animals of any kind. In swine in-and-in breeding may not 
be carried so close as in other animals. They are scrofulous and wealt 
lunged at best, and close breeding soon shows in the progen}'. As a rule 
one-half or three-fourths bred are good enough to bring enhanced profits 
over those usually denominated land-pikes, a picture of which may be 
found in another part of this work. 



634 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Gestation of Cows. 

There has been much surmised first and last upon the subject of the 
length of time of gestation, and its effect upon the sex of animals 
produced. It is a prevalent idea*that if an animal goes over her time a 
male will be the result. Let us see how careful records kept by scientific 
men will tally with this. 

Mr. Tessier, a most accurate and acute observer for over forty years, 
embracing various animals, gives results of over 575 cows and these 
subsequently having been extended to 1,131 cows the extremes were not 
changed but results as to averages are as stated below\ 

Upon the 575 cows the results were as follows : Twenty-one calved 
between the 240th and 270th days, the mean time being 259 days. 

Five hundred and forty-four calved between the 270th and 299tli days, 
the mean time being 282 days. 

Ten calved between the 299th and 321st days, the mean time being 
303 days. 

Earl Spencer has also carefully tabulated the period of gestation of 
cows as we find in the table on the following page. 

In these 766 cows the least period was 220 days ; the mean 285 days ; 
the longest period 313 days. He states that he was able to rear no calf 
produced at an earlier period than 240 days. Thus it may be accepted 
that, according to Tessier, a cow may carry a calf 321 days and produce 
it sound ; and from the fact that Tessier and Earl Spencer agree almost 
exactly as to the meantime of gestation, (1,895 cows being observed), 
285 days or nine and a half months may be taken as the average time of 
gestation of cows, slight variations being allowed from this for differ- 
ent breeds. 

Earl Spencer was inclined to the belief that a cow would carry a bull 
calf longer than a cow-calf. In stating the case, he says : 

'* In order to try this, the cows who calved before the 260th day, and 
those who calved after the 300th, ought to be omitted as being anomalous 
cases, as well as in cases in which twins w^ere produced ; and it will then 
appear that, from the cows whose period of gestation did not exceed 286 
days, the number of cow-calves produced was 283, and the number of 
bull-calves 234 ; while, from those whose period exceeded 286 days, the 
number of cow-calves was only 90, while the number of bull-calves 
was 152." 

The author, however, omitted to notice that all the calves born after 
the 299th day Mere females, and of those born before the 260th day, 10 
were females and 15 males. And again, omitting the twin-calves, 340 
were females and 401 males — a large excess of bull over cow-calves. It 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 



635 



TABLE RELATIVE TO THE GESTATIOX OF COWS. 



Number of Days of Gestation. 


Cows. 


Cow 

calves 


Bull 
calves 


Twin 

cosv 

calves. 


Twin 

bull 

calves. 


Twin cow 
and bull 

calves. 


220 


2 

1 

2 

2 

5 

6 

3 

3 

5 

5 

15 

14 

18 

32 

35 

36 

47 

54 

66 

74 

60 

52 

42 

45 

23 

31 

16 

10 

8 

7 

6 

2 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

1 


"i" 

"i" 

1 

"2" 

1" 
1 

1 

■[■ 

..„. 

.„... 

5 
1 
2 

"2" 

7 

10 
11 

16 
15 
20 
2G 
30 
33 
29 
22 
25 
13 
20 
10 

9 

5 

1 

1 

3 

2 

1 

"i" 
1 
3 

1 

1 


1 








22(3 









233 


1 
1 








234 









235,: 




i 


239 




1 


242 


1 




1 


245 








24G 


2 








248 








250 










252 


2 
1 








253 








254 ; 








255 


2 
1 
2 

1 
1 
2 








257 








25S 








259 








2G2 








2G3 








2G6 




1 




2GS 








2G9 


1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

5 

2 

6 

2 

4 

11 

20 

18 

20 

24 

33 

43 

38 

27 

28 

25 

13 

22 

11 

9 

7 

4 

4 

1 

1 






1 




1 




1 


271 










1 




273 






274 




1 
1 




275 






276 




1 


277 


1 
1 
3 




1 


278 




2 


279 




2 


280 




281 






1 




1 




283 






284 








285 






2 


286 






287 




1 




288 






289 








290 








291 








292 








293 








294 








295 








*296 








297 








299 








304 








305 








306 








807 








313 









636 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

is also curious in this connection to note, that of the 764 cows, 23 pro- 
duced twins, or one cow in 33 1-3 of these ; 7 cows had twin females ; 5, 
twin males, and eleven had twin male and female calves. Those in the 
twins produced their owner 18 female calves and 16 male calves. 

From the many facts collected in various races of animals, it is quite 
safe to conclude that the sex of the young has no particular influence on 
the period of gestation. It is more probable that heredity, sires, early 
maturity, and various other integers in the problem, may control the 
tendency to long or short gestation. 

Pood vs. Product. 

The value of an animal depends upon the profit it will give in compar- 
ison with the care and expense in rearing and fattening, in the case of 
beef cattle, and, of the cost of feeding, in comparison with the milk 
yield, in connection with dairying. In this we may safely conclude that 
an animal will produce less and less gain the longer it is kept, and thus 
early maturity becomes the most important integer in the breeding of 
stock, whether it be for beef or milk. The reason why the mature ani- 
mal consumes more in proportion to gain than the younger one is, that it 
takes a certain amount per pound of live weight to supply waste. The 
animal of a given age, according to breed and adaptability to fattening, 
can only arrive at a certain weight. Hence this ultimate weight reached, 
it will not increase. Long before this ultimate weight is reached, the 
animal will increase only in fat. Thus the flesh-forming element in the 
food is wasted, save that which supplies the daily waste in the animal 
economy. Thus from the data Avhich we now present it will be seen how 
much may be considered necessary as food, under various conditions. 

Conclusions from Experiments. 

Prof. W. S. Johnson, in his report of the Connecticut Agriculture Sta- 
tion for 1877, gives the following translations from Dr. Wolff, a German 
experimenter. These, of course, must only be considered as approxima- 
tive. They, however, will show as being the result of practical experi- 
ment — principles upon which ratios may be made up of other material. 

Dr. Wolff, in illustrating the standard for a milch cow, says th'at 30 
lbs. of young clover hay will keep a cow in good milk ; that this contains 
of dry organic substance 23 lbs., of which is digestible — albuminoids 
3.21, carbo-hydrates 11.28, and fat 0.63. This is 71 lbs. albuminoids 
more, and .22 lbs. of carbo-hydrates less, with .13 lbs. of fat more, than 
the standard. The richest and best meadow hay contains in 30 lbs., of 
organic substance 23.2 lbs., having digestible albuminoids 2.49 lbs., car- 
bo-hydrates 12.75 lbs. and fat .42 lbs. This comes very near the feeding 
standards. 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 



637 



Feeding Standards. 

PER PAY, AND PER 1,000 LBe. LIVE WEIGHT. 



1. O.xeii at re.«t ia stall 

2. '* mmlenitely worked '24. 

3. " lieavily worked J2(5.0 

4. " latLeiiing, lirst jicrioil 27.0 

" " Pt'coiiil pcriuil 2(3.0 

" " tliird i)eriod 125 

."). Cow.=!in milk 24.0 

(5. Grow'mof Calllt-: I 

.tGE — .M<)^ THS. AVK. I.TVK WT. PKK HEAd] 

2- 3 



3— G 

6—12 

12-18 

18—24 



2— 3 

3— 
G-12 

12-18 
18-24 



i:)i) p, 

3U0 
500 
700 
850 



150 
300 
501) 
700 
850 



iiiids 




22.0 
23.4 
24.0 
24 
24.0 



PER DAY AND PER HEAD. 



3.3 '• 


06 " 


2.1 '' 


0.30 " 


3.00 " ! 


70 " 


1.0 " 


4 1 '• 


0.30 " 


5.40 " 


12.0 " 


1.3 " 


6.8" 


30 " 


8.40 " 


1G.8 " 


1.4 - 


9 1" 


0.28 •• 


10.78 " 


204 " 


1.4 " 


19.3" 


0.26 '• 


J1.96 " 



1:4.7 
1:5.0 
1:6.0 
1:7.0 
1:8.0 

1:4.7 
1:5.0 
1:6.0 
1:7.0 
1:8.0 



To show how a ration for milk cows maj be arranged of various m;:tcr- 
rial, he gives the follo^^i.lg: 

Ration for Mileh Cows. 



12 pounds average meadow hay. 

6 " oat straw 

20 " mangolds 

25 " brewers' grains 

2 " cotton-seedcake 



Standard . 






lbi5. 
9.5 
49 
22 
5.6 
1.6 



23 8 
24.0 



DJjrcstible. 



aj 


uJ 










'o 






.S'3 






r— ""^ 




a 


< 


Q 


fe 


lbs. 


lh«. 


lb*. 


0.65 


4 92 


0.12 


0.08 


2 40 


0.04 


22 


2.00 


0.02 


0.98 


2.70 


0.20 


0.62 


0.30 


0.24 


2.55 


12 38 


62 


2.50 


12 50 


0.40 



Prof. Johnson gives the following rations, calculated from the table 



20 pounds cured corn- (odder 

5 " rye straw 

6 " malt sprouts 

2 " cotton-seed meal 



Standard. 



13.7 


0.64 


8.68 


0.20 


4.1 


0.04 


1.82 


0.02 


50 


1.16 


2 70 


10 


1.6 


0.62 


0.36 


0.24 


244 


2.46 


13.56 


0.5G 


24.0 


2.50 


12.50 


0.40 



638 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Or, a wain 



S - 

box 

O JD 



Diofestible. 



6" 



c-^s 



o 



fe 



15 pounds corn-lodder 

5 *■' bran 

5 " uuilt sprouts 

3 " corn-meal 

2 '• cotton-seed meul 



12.1 
4.1 
4.1 
2.5 
l.G 



24.4 



O.IG 
59 
0.97 
0.22 
0.62 



2.56 



0.00 

221 
2.25 
2.05 
0.36 



12.42 



0.04 
15 
0.08 
0.07 
0.24 

58 



A coiTcspondent of the JSfational Live Stock Journal gives the follow- 
ing as a practical ration which he used to feed forty steers, weighing an 
average of 900 lbs., and gaining 2 1-2 lbs., per head, per day: 



12 pounds oat straw 

5 '• hay 

6 " corn-meal 

4 " bran 

2 " Linseed meal. 



Standard for fat ten in sr cattle of this weiorht 



9,80 


0.17 


4.81 


0.08 


3.98 


27 


2.05 


0.05 


5.04 


0.50 


3,64 


0.28 


3.22 


0.50 


1.70 


0.10 


1.61 


47 


0.70 


0.18 


23.65 


1.9L 


12 90 


0.69 


24 30 


2 25 


13 50 


0.45 



This corresponds quite closely w^th the German standard. The albu- 
minoids are slightly less, and the fat more. One gallon of cheap molasses 
added to the rations of hay for forty head, would nearly bring up the 
carbo-hydrates to the standard. Again he says : The following is a 
practical ration fed to 10 steers for 90 days ; their average weight for the 
90 da^^s being 1,348 lbs. ; and this was the average ration fed — the aver- 
age gain being 3 lbs. per head, per day : 



15 pounds oat straw 



hay 
corn- meal 
pea-meal... 
oat- meal.., 
flax-seed ... 



Standard for fattening cattle of this weight 
— 3d period 



1225 


21 


6.01 


0.10 


4.77 


0.32 


2.46 


0.06 


5 86 


0.59 


4 24 


0.33 


2,48 


0.51 


1.32 


0.05 


2 48 


0.29 


129 


0.14 


86 


0.17 


0.18 


0.29 


28.70 


2.09 


15.50 


0.97 


33.70 


3.63 


19.95 


0.80 



This seems a wide departure from the German standard ; but that all 
the conditions may be understood, it is stated that the corn, pease, oats 
and flax-seed, in the proportions stated, were mixed and ground together, 
and then 14 lbs. of the mixed meal was mixed with the 15 lbs. of oat 
straw, cut into inch lengths, and all well cooked together ; that is, 420 
lbs. of the ground meal was mixed with 450 lbs. of cut oat straw, placed 
in a steam-box and well cooked with steam, and this served for three 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 



63^ 



days' rations for, tlie 10 head, except that 6 lbs. of long hay was given 
to each at noon. Perhaps the explanation is, that the cooking rendered 
a so much larger per centage digestible, that it was, in effect, equal to 
the German standard. These steers weighed 1,210 lbs. when the exper- 
iment began, and 1,485 lbs. at the end of 90 days ; so that 1,348 lbs. was 
the average weight during the period. The meal ration was but 10 lbs. 
during the first two weeks, and increased gradually up to 16 lbs., at the 
end of 60 days ; making the average ration 14 lbs. per day. 

As supplementary to this we give three rations applicable to the East, 
South and West, in the order named : 

CLOVER AND CORN RATION FOR FATTENING CATTLE OP 1200 LBS. 



20 pounds best clover hay 

5 '" straw or cornstalks 

15 " corn-meal 

Standard lor fattening cattle of 1200 lbs.. 
2d period 1 

OF PEAS AND OATS, DRIED IN BLOSSOM, 
WITH CORN-MEAL. 

27 pounds pea and oat hay 

12 " corn-meal 

WINTER RATION OF WESTERN CATTLE, CORN 
AND STALKS. 

20 pounds dry cornstalks 

20 " ear-corn 



us 
> ^ 



Diffestible. 






o s 



lbs. 
15.20 

4.i0 
11.77 


lbs. 
2 14 
0.04 
1.17 


lbs. 
7.52 

1.82 
8.48 


]b«. 
0.42 
0.02 
0.50 


31.07 
31.20 


3.35 
3.60 


17.82 
17.70 


0.96 
0.84 



20.60 
10.09 



2.16 
1.00 



9.61 

7.27 



30.69 



3.16 



17.S8 



16.52 

16.82 



0.16 
68 



7.30 
12.12 



33.14 



1.84 



19.42 



0.48 
0.57 



1.05 



0.08 
0.96 



1.04 



It will be of interest now to show the chemical composition, digestibil- 
ity and money value, according to the German standard, for 2,000 lbs. of 
clover hay, meadow ha}' , corn fodder, oat straw, oil cake, wheat bran, 
corn meal and oats. These foods, used more in the United States than 
any like number of others, are also complementary to each other : (See 
table on following page). 

Comparing Values. 
The comparisons of values by the ton of these very dissimilar foods is 
as follows : We find clover hay worth $17.82 and oat straw $9 per ton ; 
but it cannot be inferred that oat straw would be as cheap at that price 
as clover hay to make an entire food for cattle, or other animals, because 
clover hay is a well balanced food for cattle and oat straw is only a 



(340 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

RELATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT KR^DS OF FOOD. 



CLUVEK HAY. 

Albuminoids 

Carba-liydrates 

Crude libre 

Fat 



AVERAGE MEADOW HAY. 

Albuminoids 

Curbo-hydrates 

Crude fibre 

Fat 



CORN FODDKU. 

Albuminoids 

Carbo-hydrates 

Crude flbre •: 

Fat 



Albuminoids 
Carbo-hydrate- 
Crude fibre 

Fat 



OAT STRAW. 



Albuminoids... 
Carbo-hydrate.- 

Fibre 

Fat 



WITKAT BRAN. 



Albuminoids ... 
Carbo-hydrates 

Fibre 

Fat 



CORN MEAT.. 



Albuminoid-!.... 
Carbo-liydrate.-; 

Crude libre 

Fat 



Albuminoids ... 
Carbo-hydrates 

Crude fibre 

Fat 







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$9 24 


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180 


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820 


7 38 


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39.5 


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$19 81 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. g41 

partial food, containing so little albuminoids and fat that cattle would 
starve to death upon it if fed long enough. The muscles and nerves 
could not be nourished upon it ; and yet a good article of oat straw is 
worth the price named, because of the digestible heat and fat formers it 
contains. Now, put a ton of the Ijest oat straw with a ton of the best 
clover hay, and you have a fairly balanced food. It compares well with 
common meadow hay. The digestible albuminoids in clover 10.7, in 
straw 1.4, making the two added 12.1, and the average per cent of the 
mixture is 6.05, whilst meadow hay is only 5.04. The digestible carbo- 
hydrates in the mixture is about 39.0 to 41.0 in hay, and the fat is 1.4 
to 1.0 in meadow hay. The parallel is very close ; and as the mixture 
has slightly more albuminoids and fat, it may be considered the better 
ration. These valuations of the different elements simply mean that 
each is worth the relative price named when fed in due proportion with 
the other elements. Oil-cake, for example, is as far from being a 
balanced ration as oat straw, for it contains as much too large a propor- 
tion of albuminoids as straw does too small. It has also oil in excess. 
Like straw it must be fed with other foods. If 400 lbs. of oil-cake be 
mixed with a ton of oat straw, the mixture Avill make a ration equal to 
meadow hay. 

Feeding Where Corn i3 Cheap. 

When stock of any kind is kept and fattened in stables, on ground or 
cooked food, these tables will be found valuable. So far as our OAvn 
experience goes we have found that for growing animals there is nothing 
better than equal weights of corn and oats, or corn and barley, with 
what good hay or shocked corn fodder they will eat. We have also 
found that when corn was less than 30 cents per bushel it did not pay for 
grinding even for cattle, if it could be fe'd in the ear or in the husk, the 
experiments being based on the toll taken, and the cost of hauling ten 
miles to mill. For sheep, horses, and hogs it will not pay for grinding 
when it is less in price than 40 cents per bushel. 

In all that great scope of country in the West known as the corn zone, 
the most economical manner we have ever found in fattening cattle was 
to feed, first, shock-corn ; next, snapped corn ; and, third, husked corn 
in the car. In feeding the two latter, the animal weighing 1,000 pounds 
should have about 25 pounds of corn and 10 pounds of best hay. 

In feeding shock corn the animal M^ill eat no more than it requires, and 
it should have twice a day whatever it will eat up clean, of cars. In 
feeding in this manner in the fields or dry yards with abundance of water, 
allowing hogs to run after the cattle after they have finished the ears, to 
pick up wasted corn and droppings — if the cattle are sheltered from wind 
and storm, they may be most economically fed and to very heavy w^eights. 



642 ILLUSTRATIOD STOCK DOCTOR. 

Raising Young Cattle. 

Here again the breeder must be guided by sound judgment. It will 
not pay to starve even the commonest stock. A calf, to use a common 
expression, "knocked in the head with a pail of .skimmed milk," will 
never make a first class steer or cow. Neither is it necessary that they, 
suck the cow. In fact, in the case of dairy cows or heifers intended for 
the dairy, they should not suck, for it surely tends to diminish the flow 
of milk, except the calf is turned with the cow at stated intervals, and the 
cow milked clean at the same time. In the case of heifers, they should 
be milked as soon as the calf has drawn the first milk, both as a means of 
training and to develop the flow of milk as much as possible ; besides this, 
a calf taken at two or three days old is easily taught to suck the finger or 
an artificial teat attached to a resers^oir. 

The First Tw^o Weeks, 

They should have nothing but new milk. It should be as warm as it 
comes from the cow, and the calf should be fed four times a day. Then 
they may have milk twelve hours old, from which the cream has been 
taken, adding four ounces of finely ground meal made into thoroughly 
cooked mush, to each meal, for strong, hearty calves. Thus they may 
be fed for two weeks more, changing to oat-meal or wheat flour if the 
calf is inclined to scour. Some feeders add a teaspoonful of linseed meal 
once a day. It is not a bad plan. When the calf is four weeks old it 
need be fed but twice a day, giving milk warmed to about ninety or 
ninety-five degrees, which last is the natural animal heat. From this 
time on more and more mush, or its equivalent may be added as the calf 
increases in size and strength, tmtil it begins to eat grass and threshed 
oats, which it should be encouraged to do. 

Peed Early. 

At ten weeks old it should eat freely, and at three months old it may 
be gradually weaned from milk and taught to subsist on grass and oats. 
During all this time the calf should be sheltered from the hot sun and 
rain, by providing a shelter to which it may retire, well ventilated, dry 
and clean, and sufiiciently dark to keep out green-head and other biting 
flies. In the autumn its rations of grain should be increased, and as grass 
fails the finest meadow hay should be substituted — ^w^hatever it will eat 
clean of both. Offer it water occasionally after it is a month old, and 
when weaned see that it never lacks for water. 



CATTLE, HOW TO BREED. 643 

Figuring Profits. 

During the winter koep the calves in the warmest quarters possible; 
feed liberally with grain and hay, and in the spring you will have the sat- 
isfaction of knowing that you have received the best profit that you will 
ever reap from the animal at any subsequent age ; but upon comparing 
debit and credit with your neighbor who has fed skim-milk alone in sum- 
mer and poor hay in winter, you will find that the loss on his calves has 
gone in the shape of profit in yours. 

From this time on feed liberally of grain in the winter, and give a little 
all summer when they will eat it. Let them in winter be so warm that 
they never become cliilled. So continue until the animal is within six 
months of being ripe for the butcher. Then feed the best you can, and 
you will be rejoiced to find that you may get two to three cents a pound 
gross weight more than your neighbor who has only half fed and has turned 
off his cattle totally unripe for the butcher. 

The same rule will hold good for those calves intended for cows. To 
make a good cow, she must be fed well to bring early development and 
maturity. She may thus be brought forward strong and lusty, and in 
better condition at two years past to bring you a perfect calf, than those 
of your neighbor at twice that age, whose policy has been to grudge them 
feed and allow them to shift for themselves. 

Castration. 

When the bull calves are three weeks old, if in good health, they should 
be castrated. It should certainly be done before they are four weeks old. 
Many of our best stock raisers incline to the opinion that as soon as the 
calf begins fairly to gain size and flesh, say at two weeks old, is the proper 
time. We have never had better success than at this time. Every person 
who purposes to breed cattle should know how to do this. The operation 
is quite simple, and easily performed. 

Secure the calf so it may remain standing on its feet, but cannot struggle 
severely. Have a knife ready vdth a keen-edged blade. The blade of a 
budding-knife is the proper shape. Seize the scrotum from behind, and 
with two light, swift, sharp strokes cut through and into the testicle. 
Separate the membrane where it unites, pull the testicle out until the cord 
shows from four to six inches, and cut it with a pair of nippers or rather 
dull shears. It will save loss of blood. So operate with the other, and 
the work is done. If from any cause severe bleeding ensues, inject a 
little tincture of muriate of iron into the cavities, and wet a soft rag with 
the tincture and press it well into the cavity. If these be not at hand, 
push a little salt and lard into the cavity. If the operation has been care- 
41 



644 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

fully performed, nothing will generally be required. The calf should be 
kept free from interference by other animals 

Until the Parts are Healed, 

which will usually occur in a week. If they have been used to the com 
pany of other calves, they should not be deprived of it now, else they will 
pine. One reason why we advise early gelding, is, it should be done be- 
fore the calf is taken off of new milk, and it should not be deprived of 
the natural milk until it recovers from the shock. Care must be taken 
that flies do not get near, to deposit their eggs in the parts operated on. 
To prevent this, if there are flies, keep the calves in a pretty dark, but 
well ventilated place. Most persons will find it awkward at first to geld 
as we have directed. A little practice, however, with tact and firmness, 
will render all easy, especially if one can have the advantage of seeing an 
expert operate once. 

Sometimes Suppuration Ensues. 

In this case recourse must be had to mild palliative measures. Keep 
the parts washed clean, t^ace a day, with warm rainwater and castile soap, 
and inject a small quantity of tincture of aloes and myrrh. If the parts 
become unhealthy, or ulcerated (for mere suppuration is healthy action), 
wash with a weak and clear solution of sal soda, or hard wood ashes. If 
proud flesh should arise (a rare occurrence), burnt alum, pounded very 
fine may be applied, or the parts may be touched with lunar caustic. 



CHAPTEE III. 



TRAINING AND WOBKING. 



TRAINING VS. BREAKING TRAINING THE CALF HALTERING TRAINING TO MILK 

FEEDING AT MILKING TIME VICIOUSNES3 IN COWS HOOKING COWS TRAINmft 

OXEN TRAIN STOCK YOUNG SUMMING UP MANAGING A KICKING COW. 

Training Cattle vs. Breaking. 

The word ''breaking" horses or steers to work, or breaking a heifer in 
to milk, has now-a-dajs become pretty well obsolete. Breaking by brut« 
force may make a kind of a machine of an animal ; it may do stupidly 




g46 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

what is desired, and yet not do it to the best advantage. Intelligent per- 
sons now do not break an animal by destroying its will, they simply make 
it subservient to that of man, by letting it know at the first hampering 
for training that it will not be hurt, if it does not resist. All domestic 
animals are naturally subservient to the will of man ; they require to 
be taught what is wanted, and the individual should know that no good 
can come out of any system of training which compels the use of the 
whip constantly. The whip is necessary only as a means of correction, 
when an animal is refractory after understanding the will of the master. 
An intelligent trainer will easily distinguish between stubborn antagonism 
and a want of comprehension. We have never seen young animals stub- 
born, except that they did not understand what was wanted of them ; 
and in animals that have at length been made to work in the yoke, or to 
stand quietly to be milked, but which have "freaks," as they are called, 
when they seem wild or stubborn, it is usually the result of bad treat- 
ment in "breaking," and the animal is actuated almost solely by fear. 
If, in the struggle which ensues, the animal becomes master, it is there- 
after of but little use. It is better in training that the struggle be not 
made necessary. 

Training thn Calf. 

If the calf has been raised by hand, that is, fed with milk from the 
pail, it will, or should have, become so gentle and familiar as to allow 
itself to be approached readily, and to respond to the call of its master. 
Many persons at this time name every calf, and thus they soon come to 
know their names when called. If firmness and at the same time gentle- 
ness have been used, so that the calf will understand that there is nothing 
to fear ; if no struggle is made, it is well on the way to understand what 
is further expected of it. It should be i*ubbed and curried occasionally, 
especially on those parts of the body that itself cannot reach, as the 
head, neck and shoulders ; or, if kept in the stable constantly, it should 
be brushed all over at least once a day. Here is one of the first and 
most important lessons. At first, the calf does not know what is 
intended. If the master gets angry and beats it, it will ever after asso- 
ciate currying and brushing with a beating ; and when it gets older and 
stronger, in the constant successions of struggles to escape punishment, 
it will at length find it is the stronger animal of the two. Thereafter 
itself and not the man is master. The object of currying is not to give 
pain. It is an operation of cleaning that the animal cannot perform for 
itself, because confined in a stable. If the animal is turned out during 



CATTLE, TRAINING AND WORKING. 647 

the day, and confined only at night ; or if it have the range of the yard 
and sheds day and night, the cleaning is not needed. Animals can and 
do perform these offices for themselves and for each other bv licking, so 
far as is necessary. The accumulating scurf in an out-door life is a pro- 
vision of nature for the protection of the animal. It should net be 
touched. In the stable, however, it is different. The lack of exercise 
tends to a sluggish movement of the blood, and hence a clean skin be- 
comes one of the most active integers in preserving the health of the 
animal. In using the comb or brush, or, in the case of cattle, the card 
and brush, a light hand with the comb and card will do better work than 
a heavy hand. It should be unnecessary to say that about the bony parts 
the card or curry-comb should never be used. 

Haltering. 

The first thing a calf should be taught is to stand quietly when tied, 
and under all circumstances. If it is taught this by being tied up imme- 
diately upon being taken from the cow to be fed milk, or at from three 
days to a week old, there will be no difficulty. If the calf has run with 
the cow, it will be strong and lusty. In this case, the lot if they are to 
be stabled, should be put into a close pen, and a strong halter fastened to 
the head, of one of them, using discretion and time so as not to frighten 
the animal. Once secured, two men will easily place it in position in the 
stable. So proceed until all are handled. Here they may be gently 
handled until quieted, whatsoever the manipulation. 

The next step will be teaching it to lead. Take it into a closely fenced 
yard, having the calf haltered at the end of a ten-foot rope : stand in front 
of it and utter the word "come." Of course, it will not move. Utter 
the word again, and at the same time let an assistant tap it lightly with a 
buggy whip on the legs, from behind, or hold the whip yourself and tap 
it on the forelegs at the utterance of the word. The animal will soon un- 
derstand what is wanted and come forward. It should then have something 
it likes, the least possible lick of salt, for instance. From this time on 
you will have no difficulty in teaching the calf to follow quietly ; in fact 
it may be taught to do many things : to back or come forward at the order f 
to turn to the right or left. In fact, it should be half broken to milk be- 
fore it has had a calf, or should be half broken to labor before the yoke 
is put on. 

To illustrate the difference between this plan of uniting firmness with 
gentleness in the training of cattle, one has only to observe the difference 
in cattle on different farms. The stock of the brutal farmer will never 
willingly allow the owner to come near them. K a master's animal be in 



G48 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



a corner and he approaches, there is a dash to escape, and perhaps some 
vouno" animal is maimed. Such stock soon acquire the habits of their 
master : they are morose, ugly, often vicious ; for in a herd under bad 
raanao-ement animals sometimes get the better of the master, and are apt 
to become breachy, tricky, and generally unmanageable. 

Training to Milk. 

In 'raining to stand quietly while being milked, the udder should be 
often handled while the heifer is growing up ; the bag should be rubbed ; 
it should be pressed and the teats gently pulled. This need take but very 
little time. The real work conies when the animal is to be milked. There 
are many things to be taken into consideration here. The heifer must be 
put in a pen where she cannot hurt herself, and where the milker can op- 
erate easily ; a pen just long enough and just wide enough for the heifer 
to stand in, five feet high and tight enough so there mil be no danger of 
the heifer injuring herself, and M-ith an opening for the milker to operate 
through, will thoroughly subdue the wildest. Generally, all that is needed 

will be to tie the heifer 
by the head, and then 
patiently show her that 
she will not be hurt. 
She will soon come to 
associate the act of 
milkins: as easing the 
udder and thencefor- 
ward will stand qui- 
etly, unless the bag 
or teats hurt her. If so, seek the cause of the difficulty and cure it. 

If the animal has never been tied up, but has been handled in the yard, 
one person may take the heifer by the horns, while another milks. If 
she be very refractory she may have to be "nosed." Seize the off horn 
firmly with the rig, it hand, and thrust the two first fingers and thumb of 
the left hand into the nostrils, clasping the membrane tightly if she 
struggles' severely. So soon as the struggles cease, ease the pressure of 
the fingers in the nostrils. If she again struggles, again tighten the 
Sjrasp. Let the milker use gentleness. It does no good to kick an 
animal ; it may do much harm. If the heifer kick, it is probably because 
she is hurt. A person of ordinary strength need not be kicked while 
milking, unless in the case of a cow of extraordinary strength and 
viciousness. The wrist of the left hand holding the teat, if kept well 
against the stifle, and pressed firEily back when the foot is raised, will 




UKSULT OF B.Vl> HANDLING. 



CATTLE, TRAINING AND WORKING. 649 

generally cause it to be set down in place again. Use soothing words 
when the animal is quiet, and low but firm words of command when 
refractory. If the udder is inflamed, as is very often the case soon after 
calving, bathe it carefully with cold water, so as not to shock the animal. 
She will soon come to associate a feeling of relief with the operation and 
like it. In fact, the whole art of training may be summed up in the 
sentence ; Use discretion and judgment, and show yourself superior to 
the brute — in truth, its friendly master. The conquering of brute force 
by brute force is a relic of barbarism. There are vicious animals as 
there are vicious men ; there are dangerous animals as there are danger- 
ous men. Both may have been bred or educated thus. Vicious men are 
placed where they cannot injure their fellows ; vicious animals had better 
go to the butcher — they are as unprofitable to breed from as they are 
useless for what may be got out of them. 

As showinsr the effects of 
'bad and good handling, we 
give the picture of a cow 
made wild and ^^cious by 
bad handling, and that of a 
cow used to kind treatment 
and gentle but firm handlino^. 
The reader can draw his o^vn 
conclusions as to which is the 
best system. 

IIESULT OF GOOD HANi>LIK(i. 

Feeding at Milking Time. 

Some ])crsons, to induce gentleness, give the cow a mess before sitting 
down to milk. This is a bad plan. It leads the animal to expect it, 
and if it is not given, even if she is gentle, she is restless and discon- 
tented. The very act of feeding induces moving about more or less, 
and prevents standing as quietly as she otherwise would. On the other 
hand, if she be fed after milking time she will stand quietly and entiiely 
at ease. Many good handlers feed before milking. By the time the 
whole are fed and the stable cleansed the cows will have finished and be 
ready for milking. This is the plan we have always pursued, and we 
think the better one : Before sitting down to milk we have been accus- 
tomed to have the milker give the cow to be milked the slightest lick of 
salt from the hand, or a single mouthful of extra nice soft hay. When 
you begin milking do not intermit until the cow is milked entirely clean. 
Milk fast. Slow milking not only worries the cow but tends to dry her^ 




650 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOn. 

up. If the milk is not drawn as fast as it is given down it is apt in the 
end to be withheld. 

How to Milk. 

Supposing the cows to be in the stable, after feeding, and cleaning the 
stable and the animals themselves, carefully wash the udder and teats, if 
they are dirty, or thoroughly brush with a soft brush, or wipe with a 
cloth if only dusty. Sit down quietly on the off or right side of the cow, 
the face slightly to the rear ; take hold of the rear teat furthest from you 
with the left hand, and speaking the word " hoist," slowly and in a low 
but firm tone, press the arm against the leg, to carry the foot in place 
slightly behind the other. In milking, grasp the upper portion of the 
forward teat nearest you, so the hands operate the teats diagonally. In 
grasping the teats, do so well up towards the bag, according to the length 
of the teats, with the thumb and forefinger, and pulling gently down, at 
the same time, close the other fingers, thus forcing out the milk. So 
proceed, first with one hand and then with the other, until the milk is 
pretty much drawn. Then change to the other teats and finish them. 

In stripping do not use the thumb and finger, pulling the teat from the 
root to the end. It is a senseless plan. Every drop can be had by press- 
ing the top of the hand well up under the bag, gathering the milk with 
the thumb and forefinger, and drawing the milk with the others. 

Viciousness in Cows. 

Sometimes a person will have a cow that is given to viciousness from 
bad training, and which may be so valuable in other respects that the 
owner may not wish to part with her. She may be a kicker. If so, and 
she be strong and decidedly ugly, use the following apparatus, which will 
explain itself, and which, by the lever and notches, may be made to grip 
tightly into the flank. Another plan is to draw a strong cord quite 
tightly around the girth. The most usual plan, in the stable, is to buckle 
a strap around the legs and to fasten it to a ring in the wall behind, so 
the cord will be loose when at rest, and yet so tight that the cow cannot 
get her leg forward to do mischief. The cut we give will show the first 
device mentioned and the manner of fastening : 

Cows Sucking Themselves. 

Sucking themselves is another bad habit which cows sometimes acquire. 
There are two objections to such cows. The first is, we lose their milk, 
and not rarely other cows will acquire the habit from them. It is a well 



CATTLE, TRAINING AND WORKING. 



651 




TO PREVENT A COW FROM KICKING. 



kno^\Ti fact that self-sucking cows are 
generally good milkers. It is quite 
certain that they acquire the habit 
from the fact that the milk pressure in 
the bag hurts them, and in rubbing 
the udder with the nose they at length 
get a taste of the milk, and thus be- 
come fixed in the habit. Hence the 
necessity of regular milking, and of- 
ten enough to keep the udder from 
being unduly strained. There are vari- 
ous devices for preventing this vice. One is a halter and nose piece, with 
spikes, similar but larger than those used upon calves to prevent suck- 
ing. It is given below, but besides hampering the animal to a consider- 
able extent in gathering her food, it is not always effectual. 

A very simple, and said to be effective 
means, is to take a tough hickory stick, 
fourteen inches long, three-fourths of 
an inch thick in the center, sharpened to 
a point at each end ; cut a grove around 
the center, half an inch wide, and half 
the depth of the thickness of the wood. 
Whittle each end nicely to a point, or 
leave it somewhat blunt, and insert a 
sharpened piece of w^re in each end. 
Make a hole in the animal's nose, in the 
soft portion, but close up to the hard 
membrane of the nostrils, as you would 
for ringing a bull, and small enough so it 
will require considerable pressure to slip 

the bulge of the stick until it reaches the middle notch, when it 
remain fixed. This does not prevent the animal from feeding, 
being fastened in stanchions, and it must be an inveterate sucker that will 
draw her milk with this jewel in her nose. Still another but more com- 
plicated yet quite effectual plan is given in the cut on next page. 




TO PREVENT SUCKING. 



will 
nor 



Hooking Cows. 



Another vicious habit sometimes acquired by otherwise excellent cows, 
is the vice of attempting to gore every animal that comes near, that they 
can master, and even individuals. Various devices have been recom- 
mended to prevent this. One is a bar across the horns, to which is 



652 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



fastened a slender, springy piece of 
hickory to reach a position just above 
the nostrils and armed with a sharp 
peg underneath, so that the slightest 
pressure will cause it to wound the 
nose. In a majority of cases balls 
placed on the tips of the horns, and 
which may be purchased at any hard- 
ware store, will suffice, if the animal 
is not vicious to mankind. 

These are made to screw on. To 
do so fasten the cow securely, and if 
the horn is too large to take the ball 
pare it down till it will fit. Stick 
a large potato baked soft, and thoroughly hot, on each tip of the horn. 
It will soon soften it, when the ball may be easily screwed on with the 
proper tool, and will never come off. In the case of animals vicious to 
man, the following device, which the cut fully explains, will prove 
entirely effectual. 




HARNESS TO PREVENT SUCKING. 



Training Oxen. 

The value of a working ox lies not 

only in its ability to draw a heavy 

load forward ; to be thoroughly good 

in mud, or on roads ; to be able to 

back whatever he can draw forward, 

and to be quick-paced. It is true you 

cannot make a slow breed fast, nor 

a lazy ox active ; neither can j^ou 

make an ox that lacks muscle do 

heavy work. If the reader has studied 

the characteristics of the Devons as 

we have presented them, he will be 

pretty well able to judge whether an 

animal under inspection will be fit 

for the yoke. If not fairly perfect 

TO PREVENT HOOKING. jn the principal points, discard him. 

It will not pay to train an inferior steer. If he is to be used for very 

heavy work, agility must to a considerable degree be sacrificed to weight 

and muscular power. As a rule, however, it is better that you use t::ree 




i 

i 



CATTLE, TRAINING AND WORKING. 653 

yoke of medium sized active steers in the team rather than two yoke of 
heavy, lubberly, snail-paced brutes that are always vexing the driver. 

Select such as will walk evenly, look as nearly alike as possible so that 
they may be hitched together : first, for disposition, carriage, and pace ; 
and second, for color and general appearance. If they are three years 
old, and to be put to work immediately in a breaking or freighting team, 
select a pair of mates, hamper by first roping and tying, and then yoking 
together. So proceed until you have the team, whatever the number, 
made up Once yoked, they should not again be released until they 
cease struggling, and work quietly in the team. Fasten them together, 
three, four, or five yoke, as the case may be, putting a well broken 
steady yoke of oxen on the lead. Thus you may have a team in a few 
days that will learn to pull steadily forward and turn "haw" or **gee" 




A PRIMITIVE TACKLE, BUT GOOD TRAINER. 

— to the left or right — as is wanted. They, however, will never become 
a team, in the sense of the word, as used by those who know what a 
trained yoke of oxen are. 

To properly train steers, they should be taken when quite young. 
Selecting one at a time, halter-break him as heretofore directed, cause 
him to come close to you by tapping him on the forelegs with a light 
whip. Teach him to walk quietly, but at a quick pace, at your side, you 
holding him lightly by the halter, neither before nor behind, but directly 
and closely at your side. Make him turn to the right or left at will, and 
teach him to stand quietly when so ordered. In all this do not hurry. 
Be quiet, low-voiced, patient but firm. Angry demonstrations and outcries 
may produce some spasmodic results, but the real, patient, working force of 
the animal will not be brought into effective operation by any such means. 



G54 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Train Stock Young. 

Let the steer, which should not exceed one year old — eight months ia 
better — be taught one lesson at a time, and that thoroughly. It will ren- 
der the next lesson easier. When they are quiet and will do your bidding 
in the yoke without halter or s-trap, they may be left until three years 
old before being worked, though it is better to begin at two years of age, 
especially if they are to be used on the wagon. They will not pull much, 
but they may thus be taught to walk fast, to do their share of the work, 
and 1o become thoroughly " way wise." 

The greatest difficulty m training oxen, as a single yoke, is teaching 
them to back promptly and well. To do this requires patience. Never 
overload them. Make them back promptly twelve to fifteen feet at a 
time, and then come forward, stopping instantly at the word, with heads 
up ready to back again. In traveling along the road never allovv them 
to flag, nor exert them so long at any one time as to senously weary 
them. Patience alone wiU secure the end sought. When you have occa- 
sion to speak sharply to them, do not let it be in a very loud voice, but 
let it be accompanied by a touch of the goad or a blow of the whip suf- 
ficiently sharp so the animals feel it. To touch both animals so near 
together that it seems almost simultaneous, is a fine art. It is acquired 
by always touching the slow ox first, for scarcely ever will two animals 
be found so evenly matched as to be exactly alike. When you find them 
you have a prize. When not so, we have always found it best to have 
the slower ox on the near side. 

Summing Up. 

In summing up the whole matter of training, the individual must keep 
the points aimed at steadily in view. First, the animal must be rendered 
entirely subservient to man, and this by shoTvdng it that man is its friend ; 
that under no circumstances is it to be injured. A well trained yoke or 
a team of oxen will command a fancy price as easily as a well trained 
ipan of horses. There will be, for many years to come, uses to which 
neither horses nor mules are so well adapted as are oxen. In lumbering, 
sspecially in breaking prairies, m much of the work of the farm, and for 
teaming in wild regions generally, where there is nothing but rank, wild 
grassy feed, they will be indispensable. In these cases the trained team 
will do one-third more work than the untrained team, and do it easier for 
themselves, and much more satisfactory to the driver. Here again the 
driver should be himself trained. A brutal driver will soon rum a good 
team, yet cannot entirely destroy their value. 



CATTLE, TRAINING AND WORKING. g55 

An intelligent driver will accomplish what he wants without undue 
severity ; his voice and signs are the potent powers. In starting a heavy 
load each ox is called by name, however large the team l)e. They under- 
stand that they are to place themselves in position for action ; every 
chain is straightened, every muscle is brought into tension ; they get well 
into the yokes, and at the signal all start together. With such a team 
the load must come. 

So with coAvs. The training of the heifer is begun in calf hood : she 
learns to rely entirely upon the master. They know his voice either in 
the yard or field, and come clustering about him, expecting some "tid-bit," 
or at least a kindly word or caress. When the first calf is dropped there 
IS no fear of the master ; he may take it and do with it what he will — 
only fond solicitude is shown. Let a stranger come about, and instantly 
this solicitude is changed to fear. If a person who has beaten them or 
otherwise ill-used them approaches, the fear is intensified, and if he offers 
to handle the calf, a battle for the mastery is likely to ensue. 

We have never had any trouble in teaching a heifer to stand to be 
milked. If the udder is tender, as in nine cases out of ten it Avill be, they 
will gently submit to the means used for relief and seem grateful for the 
effort. If strange heifers are to be operated on, the first thing to teach 
them is, that you are a friend; whatever the time it takes, whether half 
an hour or half a day, do not intermit the effort until the animal is sub- 
dued. If refractory it is better that the heifer or cow be tied up at once 
and kept there until entirely quiet and without fear. Then fully half the 
work is done and the subsequent work is only a question of time and of 
patience. 

Managing a Kicking Cow. 

We once subdued an unusually refractory and kicking cow, by having 
her held firmly by the head while we seized the teats firmly one with each 
hand. There was no attempt to milk. The lesson to be given was that 
she could do no injury by kicking. It took three-quarters of an hour to 
accomplish the object. When she kicked the grasp was tightened ; the 
wrist was brought back firmly against the leg above the hock. When she 
ceased kicking the grasp was relaxed, and the motion of milking was per- 
formed so far as pulling gently on the teats when she kicked, or rather 
attempted to do so by bringing her foot forward. She soon found it was 
invariably brought down again nearly in its proper position in the rear of 
its mate. In the end she gave up and submitted to be milked. One 
new lesson she had to learn, to stand without holding. This was accom- 
plished by following her about until she was content to stand, which she 



056 ILLUSTRATED STOCK l^OCTOR. 

did after three or four breaks. Within a week, there was no more quiet 
cow in the yard than this heretofore incorrigible vixen. 

A Happy Family. 

As showing the benefits of superior care and training, it can be dem- 
onstrated how nicely all farm stock will get along together in peace, when 
owned by a small farmer who cannot afford to separate into distinct herds 
on account of scarcity of numbers. If raised together in the same yard 
each will find its proper level. They will agree kindly in a small pasture, 
and if the pigs are ringed there will be no difficulty about rooting up the 
soil ; and of the different classes of animals each will eat grasses and plants 
not relished by the others. The fact well illustrates the adage, *'A mer- 
ciful man is merciful to his beast." 



CHAPTER IV. 



HOW TO SHELTER. 



.Necessity of Shelter. 

miCESSITY OP SHELTER ARTIFICIAL PROTECTION A FRAMED STABLE A CHEAP 

STABLE ABOUT BARNS A COMMON SENSE BARN A SQUARE CROSS BARN 

BASEMENTS FOR CATTLE ARRANGING THE BASEMENT ADAPTING MEANS TO THE 

END WHAT TO PLANT. 

In all climates where cattle have to be fed nearly half the year, the 
(luestion of shelter becomes of the first importance. In the middle corn 
region of the West, cattle must be fed from four to five monthsj and 
farther north, from five to six months. • If the pasture in October bo 
only sufficient to supply the animal waste, then such feeding is entirely 
\ost so far as profit is concerned. The object of keeping cattle is to get 
ijrowth and weight. The extra food given over and above the natural waste, 
represents the profit. Hence in the artificial feeding of cattle the question 
of shelter comes in. A cold storm will often seriously reduce the weight 
of stock. They will begin to fall away, and before they get ready to 
again increase in weight they will have had a season either longer or 
shorter when they will perhaps neither have gained or lost. The natural 
heat of the animal must be kept to about 100 degrees. In fact, the 
natural heat is 96 degrees whatever the temperature of the air. If it 
falls below this the animal begins to chill, and the body is called on to 
furnish additional heat. So long as this can be supphed the animal lives. 
When it is exhausted the animal dies. 

The food given may be compared to the fuel used under the boiler of 
a steam engine. So long as the water stands at 200 degrees no steam is 
produced ; above. 212 steam accumulates, until at length enough power is 
raised to start the wheels in motion. Thus it is with stock. Food must 
be given in proportion to the animal waste. With the thermometer at 
zero, and air stirring, whatever the feeding may be the animal cannot 
gain if exposed to the wind. Under shelter the natural heat of the 

657 



658 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



animal is conserved, and it remains comfortable. If the temperature of 
the stable can be kept at GO degi-ees, the minimum of food only will be 
required. Just here two integers come in ; the cheapness of food as 
against shelter, and the cost of labor. It is possible for food to be so 
cheap and labor so dear, and the price of cattle so low, that the interest 




OLD STYLE FARM YARD. 

on the shelter and the cost of labor would eat off the profits. It has 
been so in every section of the West first and last, and is so still in some 
new sections ; but nowhere so low that cattle could be profitably fed 
without the protecting influence of gullies or timber to break the force of 
the wind. This is natural protection, and is the groundwork upon which 
all other is to be built. 

Artificial Protection, 

If the stock breeder has not 
timber, then the sooner he plants 
wind-breaks to protect his yards 
and farm buildings the sooner 
will he reap profit therefrom. 

This is the crudest of artificial 
protection and yet one of great 
importance, both in Winter and 
Summer. In Winter it breaks 
the force of storms of wind, rain, 
sleet, and snow, and in Summer furnishes shade. 

Tbr 'iext crudest means of shelter is a shed of posts and poles, and 




FARMEK thriftless' MODE OP PROTECTION. 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 



659 




FARMER THRIFTY'S MODE OF PROTECTION. 



covered with slough hay or straw, and slabs, or poles, filled in between 
with such litter as stock 
will not eiit, the whole 
firmly pounded down to 
make it wind proof. 

This, if well made and 
so low as just to admit a 
man to walk under, is 
both cheap and warm. 

Another cheap form 
of shed or shelter from storms is made by setting posts firmly in the 
ground in two lines, sawing the tops level, fastening on plate pieces, 
laying on scantling for the peak, supported temporarily, and nailing on 
boards, for a roof, at one-quarter pitch, up and down from the plates to 
the peak, covering the joints with wide battens and boarding up the side 
from whence the prevailing winds come. If twelve feet boards are usedi 
for the roof, a shed may thus be made over twenty feet wide, that willi 
furnish good shelter for stock cattle Avhere forage is cheap. 

A Framed Shed, 

A still better shed may be made by running the posts up eighteen feet,, 
framing in cross-ties to support a floor. In the upper twelve feet of this 
shed a good deal of fodder may be stored, to be fed from when the- 
weather is too inclement to allow it to be handled on wagons. From this 
we may go on to more and more elaborate structures until we come to. 
the barn proper. 

On all well ordered farms the owner fully appreciates the importance- 
of shelter. Hence we see the feeding yards with one or two sides pro- 
tected with more or less serviceable shed, until upon some farms we findl 
the feeding yards entirely surrounded with this means of Winter pro.- 
tection. 

In all this the owner must be guided 
by his pecuniary means. If he have 
not money enough to put up the bet- 
ter class of buildings, it by no means 
follows that he is to leave his stock 
without shelter until he is able to build. 

So far as the simplest sheds are con- 
cerned, it is almost entirely a ques- 
tion of labor. In the case of simple 
sheds of lumber, it is simply a ques- 
tion of the cost of boards and nails. 
Any intelligent farmer, assisted 
42 




PRIMITIVE PROTECTION. 



QQQ ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

by his hired help, can do the work. It is true, however, that few per- 
sons, the first time they build, do so economically. Let us see how this 
may be fairly accomphshed. Suppose the structure is to be a simple 
voofed shed affair. Decide upon the length. The width should not be 
more than twelve feet for a smgle pitch roof. Allow that it is to be 
ninety-eight feet long. Set four heavy posts for the corners, three feet 
in the ground, and of the required height. The lower it is the warmer 
it will be, so it be high enough for the cattle to walk under the plates. 
Between the two end posts set, exactly in line, six posts each fourteen 
feet apart, and five and one-half feet high from the average ground line. 
Proceed in the same manner with the front, the posts to be nine feet 
above ground. At the back, now set seven lighter posts in the fourteen 
feet spaces. Saw them all off to an equal height, spike on four inch 
scantlmg from post to post in front, and two by four for the back. It is 
now ready for the roof, which is to be firmly nailed from front to rear. 
Board the front down to within five and a half feet of the ground, and 
the ends and back enth-ely to the ground. Thus the shed is complete, 
except banking up. This is important and will add fully one-half to its 
warmth. A good way to do this is to lay a line of sods one foot from 
the rear, and fill in with earth or old litter, carrying the banking at least 
four feet high ; or, posts may be set two feet from the wall, with suf- 
ficient strips nailed thereon to hold the litter, and the whole filled in and 
rammed tight. 

A Cheap Stable. . 

Do you prefer a stable, take the form given for a hip or double-roofed 
shed. Board the whole tight all around, leaving space for doors and 
windows ; batten the cracks, lay the floor, put in stanchions or uprights 
for fastening the cattle, leaving a feeding place in front, and the whole 
is complete. 

We prefer rings to slide up and down, upon standards three inches 
thick, to stanchions. Now this style of stable will not be strong enough 
to allow their being fastened to the floor above. Set strong posts seven 
feet apart and four and a half feet high, sawed off square on top, and 
three feet out from the wall. Prepare six-inch scantling to be pinned 
firmly to the posts, twelve inches from the ground, and on the inside next 
the wall ; the scantling bored, each three feet, with two-inch holes. This 
will be wide enough for cows. Larger cattle must have three feet, three 
inches. Prepare other scantling bored in similar manner for the tops of 
the posts. Take three-inch smooth saplings ; sharpen the lower ends just 
so they will drive firmly into the holes in the lower scanthng when it is 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 661 

pounded in place below. Shave the upper ends so they will fit the holes 
ill the scantling above. Drive them solidly into the holes below, pinning 
each one fast with a half-inch pin. Slip a four-inch iron ring over each 
stake. Lay the upper scantling on top, entering the standards as you 
go. It is better that they have some play. Lower the scantling on top 
of the posts, and pin and spike them firmly to the posts. Cut stout rope 
six feet, six inches long, splice a four-inch loop on one end, whip the 
other end with small cord so it will not unravel ; pass the rope through 
the ring and back to the loop so the end of the loop Avill be eight inches 
from the ring ; pass the end of the rope through the loop, draw tight and 
make fast Avith two half hitclies, or, better, whip the two portions of 
rope together as far as the loop. The cattle are then ready to be tied 
up, by passing the rope about the neck and through the loop, and draw- 
ing just tight enough so the animal cannot slip it over the horns. Iron 
chain bails that will last a life-time are kept ready made by agricultural 
implement men, and are much the cheapest in the end. Tied thus, cat- 
tle can easily reach their food, can lick themselves, can rest perfectly, 
but cannot reach to injure each other. A six-inch board nailed along the 
standard at a proper height, say about six inches below the tops of the 
shoulders of the cows, will prevent their reachmg too far into the feed- 
ing passage. 

About Barns. 

The "irst thing to do in the erection of any building is planning to a 
certainty what accommodations are wanted and the probable cost. The 
farm barn, if there is to be only one, must be made to answer a variety 
of purposes. It must contain stables for cattle and horses, calf pens, 
shelter for sheep, a threshing floor, bays or mows for hay and grain, room 
for vehicles and many tools, harness room, granary, and, if the barn is a 
large one, room for placing a horse-power. 

Years ago barns were seldom made higher than eighteen-feet posts. In 
these days of improved machinery it is as easy to fill a liarn tAventy-five or 
thirty feet high as one that is lower. The nearer square or octagonal a 
barn is and the higher, the less its relative cost, so that now barns are 
built of two or three stories when a slight declivity may be had for the 
site. If of two stories, the basement is cut up into stables for cattle and 
sheep, storage for -heavy tools and machinery, calf pens, etc., etc. 

The main floor will contain bays for hay and gi'ain, threshing floor, a 
harness room and granary. Practically there is no advantage in the third 
story. The barn may be as high as is needed, the bay continued to the 
roof; the stable, harness room, gianary, etc., may be floored over, and a 



662 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



mow be had overhead ; so, a floor may be carried over the threshing floor, 

and this space utilized in the same way. Practically you have the space 

at less expense. 

A Quarter Section Farm Barn. 

In the West and South, the farmer of IGO to 200 acres may get along 
very well with a side-hill barn forty-tw^o by sixty feet. It will give ample 
room for a bay 16 by 60 ; a floor 13 by 60 ; horse stable 13 by 60, con- 
taining 5 single and 1 double stall, or 2 single stalls and 3 double stalls ; 
a room for implements 10 by 13 ; a granary 12 by 13, and a tool room 
half that size ; while the basement may be devoted entirely to the stabling 
of cattle, with calf pens, a sheep pen, and, if necessary, a shed enclosed 
on three sides. The granary Avill hold over 600 bushels of grain, and 
may be divided into bins for Winter and Spring wheat, oats, barley, and 
ground feed for stock. The basement may contain two rows of cattle 
stalls, with passage way between, six feet wide, with shoots leading to the 
upper part of the barn for delivering hay, grain, and other feed. This 
will leave a space 12 by 60, which may contain calf-pens and a place for 
sheep, and it may be so arranged by means of sliding doors that it may. 
be entirely closed in inclement weather. This basement will contain stalls 
for thirty-two cattle, and the manure may be thrown directly into a cart 
or wagon and hauled directly where it is wanted. 

This barn may, of course, be enlarged by adding on, to accommodate 
any required amount of stock ; but, if a much larger barn than this is 
wanted, the square or octagonal form should be used. It will give largely 
increased room in proportion to the cost. 

A Common-sense Barn. 



NORTH 



HAY HOUSE 



MAIN BARN 



J 

J 
J 




1 


1 


1 1 










J 


r 
1 

1 
J 


sal 


H 

I 




MAIN FLOOR OF DAIRY BARN. 



Above we give an outline of the basement of a barn forty feet wide and 
sixty feet long, ^vith a lean-to overshot extending twenty feet in front. 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 663 

This bam will contain al)Out 100 tons of hay. The barn would be better 
facing the South if the lay of the land as to declivity will allow. The 
hay-house* may extend twenty feet in width and height in the form of an 
L and of such a length as may be wanted for storage, say forty feet 
This barn, if the space below the hay-house is utilized, will stable? six 
horses and fortj^ cattle. 

The basement of the main barn may be divided into stabling as follows. 
A, horse stables 12 feet deep, with mangers two and a half feet wide for 
hay, with suitable troughs for grain and manger for hay. B and C are 
cattle stalls. Those in B hung with swinging gates, opening side ways, 
G the same, but each stall having a separate gate entering direct from the 
yard. E is the mam entrance eight feet wide and ma}^ contain feed chests ; 
e is an entry five feet wide, with steps up to door D, and having an en- 
trance into the horse stables at each end. F is the overshot or shed. G 
is the portion under the hay-house to be utilized in stalls, if the htiy is 
not desired to run clear to the ground ; and H is the yard connected there- 
with. If necessary this may be roofed over making additional shed room. 

Square and Octagonal Barns. 

In the square or octagonal barn the ba}^ is in the centre, in which a 
vast compact mass of hay can be kept, and this will run from the basement 
to the peak. The basement will be used as a stable, and if desired the 
main floor may also be so used ; modern builders understand perfectly the 
art of making a floor proof against the leakage of liquids. 

One especial advantage in the octagonal shape for barns, when a large 
number of cattle are to be fed, is, the roof is easily supported and con- 
tains more economy of space for its size than any other form except the 
circular. In this the hay will be in the center, and the cattle next the 
wall, facing inwards. Above the cattle w^ill also be a mow for hay, ex- 
cept such portions as are wanted for granaries, grinding machinery and 
other conveniences. At the peak may be a \\dndmill of sufficient power 
to do the pumping of water for the stock, unless it be feasible to conduct 
water by its own gravity. In this case it may be used for grinding and 
cutting fodder. 

Let us see what an octagonal barn sixty feet in diameter will hold. 
The width of the stable will be twelve feet, and the feed next the bay six 
feet, making eighteen feet in all. This running clear around will have a 
central core of twenty-four feet, besides the entire area, from the floor 
above the stock. The stable will be one hundred and eighty feet in cir- 
cumference, and, allowing three feet, six inches to each steer, will accom- 
modate fifty head of steers, or if cows, a still greater number. 



664 



ILLUSTilATED STOCK DOCTOK. 



Below we oive the plan of the duiry barn which will explain itself. We 
have represented a cistern and also the meal room, protected by an earth 
embankment, so it may be used for roots and other feeding material that 
would be injured by freezing. 







PLAN OF STABLES IN BASEMENT. 



The following diagram will show a compact basement for a Bank Barn 
for feeding cattle and also accommodating a limited number of horses 
and milch cows, to be seventy by one hundred feet square. 




CATTLE-FEEDING BASEMENT. 



A is the horse stable with six stalls ; B, cow stable for six or eight cows ; 
C main "^ntry ; D D two small entries, running on either side of the 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 



665 



cattle stables ; E E E E arc the cattle stables, 80 by 30 feet each ; and if 
the cattle arc placed 4 feet apart, will accommodate forty head of steers 
for fatteninsr. 







MAIN FLOOR OK PAIUY BARN. 



To show another plan we give a diagram of a dairy barn fifty by one 
hundred feet. In the plan of the main floor a is a ventilating shaft, and 
h feed shoots to basement through trap door which will be shown in the 
plan of the basement. 

A Square Cross Barn. 

For a large number of cattle we know of no better form than a square 
barn for the center, with four wings running therefrom, each 30 feet 
wide by any desired length. In this arrangement the cattle might be 
placed with their heads to the wall, leavhig a passage-way between each 
two rows, by which the manure might be taken up and carried away in 
carts. In some parts of the West cattle-feedhig is carried out on an im- 
mense scale. Feeders are already beginning to ask, how best they may 
build stables to save cost in feeding, and at the same time place the cattle 
in the best possible position for economical feeding. 

A writer in the National Live Stoch Journal, under the signature of 
«' Ahmentation," gives data for a barn to feed 1,000 head of cattle. The 
principal objection to the plan is the concrete wall advised for the base- 
ment. In a building of this size and weight, it will be found to be quite 
unreliable in the West. The basement should be built of good solid 
stone, or the best hard burned brick. In lieu of this, if concrete must 
be used, the weight of the building should be on stone piers. The details 



666 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



for building the barn are given as follows, the wings being 30 feet wide 
and 200 feet long : 

"This square cross barn will have all its extreme parts equi-distant 
from the center. It will be the same distance from the quadrangular 
center to the extreme animal in either wing as from the octagonal center. 
By doubling the width of the wings, we dispense with eight long sides 
200 feet each, or 1,000 feet; and as the ends of the four wings are the 
same length as the eight wings, the saving in outside wall is 1,600 feet. 
And if these sides are 20 feet high, and boarded up and down with a two- 
inch batten, it will take 36,933 feet to cover these sides thus dispensed 
with. It will also save all the outside and interior posts of the four 
wings dispensed with, as it Avill require no more posts in a wing 60 feet 
wide than in one 30 feet wide. This will make a saving of about 22,000 
feet ; and the outside sills and plates on these 

louiT sides will be saved, amount- 

ing to 24,000 feet, besides girths 

and braces — amounting in all to 

The 
floors will cover the 




a saving of 100,000 feet, 
and 



es roofs 




■WINTERED WITH GOOD 
t.HEI.TKlt. 

The whole saving by 



wiNTKUED wiTnocT same number of square feet as in 

SIltLTEB. 

the eight wings, and cost the same. 

**It would also save 14,400 cubic feet of wall, 
buildins: the wino^s 60 feet wide could not be less than two-fifths of the 
whole cost of the barn ; and the convenience and economy of labor must 
be even greater than with the eight narrow wings. This square cross 
barn has the capacity to feed conveniently and comfortably one thousand 
head of cattle ; and it now remains to notice some of the details of 
construction. 

"The quadrangular center, 60 feet in diameter, may be built with large 
corner posts, say 14 by 14 inches square, 37 feet long, and the plates 
and girths of the wing may be framed into these posts ; but it probably 
would be better that the wing should have separate corner-posts, and 
they be bolted to the posts of the center. The quadrangular center 
should be high enough above the wings to clear the ridge of its roof. 
This would require the posts of the center building to be 17 or 18 feet 
longer than the wing posts, as the ridge of the wing roof should rise at 
least 17 feet in 60 feet, and come up under the cornice of the center 
building ; as these wings will cost about the same money with posts 20 
feet, and the latter height will hold ^bout 40 per cent more, and as this 
storasre room will be wanted for so many animals, it will be better to 
provide room in abundance, and make the posts twenty feet long. 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 667 

" The floor in the wing above the basement will run lengthwise of the 
building, and it Avill be 16 feet wide, so that the posts on either side of 
the floor, running up to the cross-beam over the floor, may stand on a 
sill running lengthwise over the basement, and eight feet from the center, 
supported by the stanchion timbers. These two sills will be strongly 
supported the whole length by the stanchion posts, placed only 38 inches 
from center to center, and will consequently hold the whole interior 
structure above. The bays on each side of the floor will be 22 feet wide ; 
there vnU. be no loss in so wide a floor, as the hay may be mowed one or 
two feet upon each edge of the floor if more room is desired. There 
will be 42 bents, the outside posts being about 18 feet 2 inches from 
center to center. The top of the cross-beams, running from side to 
side of the barn, will be 13 feet above the sill, and will be spliced at the 
post, or between the posts, on either side of the floor. On three of the 
bents the cross-beams should be carried up nearly to the j^lates, and the 
posts at the side of the floor must also be carried up to support the 
beam. The three bents (every third one) will tie the barn together, 
and being so far apart, Avill not obstruct pitching with a horse-fork. 
These high beams, besides being pinned to the outside posts should have 
a stirrup around the post coming back ten inches upon the beam, with a 
three-eighth inch bolt through the stirrup and the beam, turned up tight 
with a nut, and if the beams are well spliced in the middle, this will hold 
the barn firmly from spreading at the plates. Now, to jjrcvent this long 
wing from rocking or swaying by a strong broadside wind, these bents 
with the high beams should have a long stiff brace running from the foot 
of the post on the side of the floor to the outside post just under the 
high beam. Such a long brace on each side will hold the barn rigidly 
from, rocking. And while speaking of braces, let it be remembered that 
a brace is valuable just in proportion to its length. The braces from the 
outside posts up to the plates show a four-foot run. They will assist 
"^ery much in sustaining any weight upon the plates. 

"It is not intended to have any purlins in these wings to support the roof, 
even though they be 60 feet wide. The brace on top of the beam will 
have a run on beam from post of 8 or 9 feet, running up the post just 
under the plates and fastened by a bolt. This "wdll hold the plates abso- 
lutely rigid, and the roof will not spread them. The rafters should not 
be placed more than two feet apart, and the collar-beams should be 1 1-4 
by 5 inches, and placed six feet below the ridge, with every other pair of 
rafters double collar-beamed ; that is, with a collar-beam nailed upon each 
side of the rafters. This will make a strong shinsfle roof. The collar- 
beams will be some 20 feet long, and will be about as good a support to 
the roof as purlin-beams. The collar-beams should be as high as the 



668 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



barn would be likely to be filled, so that no room will be lost, and the 
barn will be practically free from obstruction to pitching with a horse-fork. 
"In the bents, where the cross-beams are raised nearly to the plates, 
there must be a beam framed into the posts on each side of the floor, 13 
feet above the sills, to correspond with the other beams over the floor, 
upon which scaffolding may be placed for using the room over the floor. 
It remains only to be mentioned that the interior sills are four cross-sills, 
40 feet apart, to tie the barn together at the bottom, and two sills running 
lengthwise, one on each side of the floor — that is, the centre of each of 
these long sills is placed 8 feet from the centre of the barn. The joists 
for the bays will run from these long sills on each side of the floor to the 
outside sill — about 21 feet. Each of these long sills come over a row of 
stanchion timbers in the basement below." 




FARMER THKIFTY'S CATTLE. 

The reader will see that these wings above the basement are built in 
the simplest manner, using no surplus material, and as cheap as may be 
consistent with strength and durability. 

Basements for Cattle. 

"We will now examine the construction of the basements of these long 
wings. The wall under each of these wdngs, if built of concrete, 15 
inches thick at bottom, 12 inches at the top and eight feet high, oeing 
460 feet long, would contain 4,140 cubic feet, and could be built in most 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 



669 



places for 10 cents per cubic foot, or $414 per wing. The wall under 
the center would be 1,440 cubic feet, and cost $114, The wall under 
the entire square cross barn would cost $1800. The long sides would 
require something to stiffen the wall sidewisc ; but a pier built against 
the wall on the inside would be in the way, and on the outside would 
look unsightly ; so to avoid the necessity of such piers, let a J be made 
of strong iron, say three-fourths by two inches. The long end of 
the T would be about 20 inches, and built into the wall, and the cross lie 
across the top of the wall directly under the sill. The end of the T should 
jDrojcct beyond the sill on each side far enough to have a three-quarter 
inch hole i:)unched, into which to insert a piece of the same flat iron, six 
inches long, rounded at one end. This will attach the wall to the sill. 
There should be four of these T's for each side — one near each cross 
sill 40 feet apart. This will hold the whole wall to the beam, and 
prevent any swaying. These long sides will give room for inserting 




FARMER slack's SHELTER. 



plenty of windows for light, the frames being into the boxes, and the con- 
crete built over them. The sash may be hung on a pivot in the centre, 
so as to open easily to give ventilation at certain seasons ; but the fresh 
air should be introduced through the Avail near the bottom, through hard 
burned earthen or pottery pipes, 15-inch bore, just long enough to reach 
through the wall. These pipes may be laid in the boxes, bedded in the 
concrete, and the concrete tamped down upon them. They may be placed 
ten feet apart, and will not weaken the wall. Close covers may be fitted 
to the inside, so as to shut them out at will ; and with proper ventilators 



670 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

to discharge the heated and vitiated air through the upper part of the bam, 
there will be a constant circulation of fresh air through the basement. 

One other point must be mentioned in reference to the wall. A concrete 
wall contains a large amount of moisture, and if the sills are to be placed 
on before the wall becomes quite dry, which is usually the case, the 
moisture will pass up into the green timber of the sill, form a coating of 
lime on it, and prevent the sap from escaping, and the result is a rapid 
decay of the timber. To prevent this, take well-seasoned pine boards, 
12 inches wide, coat one side with gas tar, and bed this tarred side in the 
mortar on top of the wall. The sills are laid on this leveled board, and 
no moisture can come through this board into the sill to rot it. 

Arranging the Basement. 

These long stables must be laid out so as to render the labor as conven- 
ient as possible. There must be easy access to every animal mthe stable, 
and this becomes more important whisn one thousand cattle are to be pro- 
vided for. Cattle are most easily attended when jDlaced in double rows 
with their heads turned towards one feeding floor. 

In the long basement, the first row of stanchion posts will be placed 
seven feet from the first wall, on the side of the first feeding floor, 14 
feet wide. On the other side of the feeding floor is the second row of 
stanchion posts, coming up under one of the long sills, as described be- 
fore. Two and one-half feet being occupied by mangers on each side of 
this floor, will leave nine feet for a drive-way. Along this floor may 
pass a cart or wagon, with green food in Summer, or fodder in Winter. 
The third row of stanchion posts will be 16 feet from the last, under the 
second long sill, on the side of the second feeding floor ; and the fourth 
row will be fourteen feet from the third, on the other side of the second 
feeding floor, and seven feet from the other wall. Here two rows of 
cattle stand, with their tails to the walls, and the two middle rows stand 
tail to tail, facing upon opposite floors. The largest animals should be 
placed ill middle rows, as there is the most room. These stanchion posts 
are placed 3 feet 2 inches from center to center, and the cattle are best 
fastened to the center of a chain stretching from staple to staple driven 
into each stanchion post. These chains slide up and down on staples. 
The mangers may be placed 20 inches from the ground, and, with long 
staples, the cattle may lie down comfortably. One of the best ways to 
feed cattle, with plenty of bedding and muck for deodorizing, is to let 
them stand three or four months on tan manure, and, the mangers being 
placed high, the manure may accumulate two feet deep under them, and 
they may keep quiet clean, with the bedding and muck, and the manure 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 671 

will be trodden so hard as to ferment very little. When a lot of cattle 
are sold, then wagons may be driven through to carry off manure. I 
have seen cattle fed in this manner, carded daily, and kept quite clean, 
standinfj on their manure for four months. 

These feeding floors, as described, stretch through the whole length of 
the barn. A feeding car passes through two wings, and, having a turn- 
table, may pass through any AA-ing. Feed may be dropped through a 
chute on the side of the upper floor into the car wherever phtced on any 
feeding floor. This form of barn gives every facility for cutting and 
cooking the food — a larger engine, placed in the center, cutting, grinding 
and cooking all the food ; and this also offers the best facility for soiling 
three thousand head in Summer, if such should be necessary. In the 
West, however, v.here only the feeding of such large numbers of cattle 
would be profitable, soiling is out of the question. 

Adapting Means to the End. 

No person can possibly know so well what an individual wants as 

himself, if he be a reflecting man. The architect scarcely ever gives 

attention to the planning of barns. The best barns in a country are 

those of intelligent farmers who have carefully observed the conveniences 

of various kiiids in the barns of their friends in the localities visited, and 

who when in building their ov,^\ varied them to suit their own wants. 

. . . • 

For this reason we have simply given outlines of those illustrated with 

descriptions of others adapted to various numbers of cattle. See pp. 588, 
590, 591. To give the cost would be a waste of space that may be better 
employed. This will vary -with locality and the price of material, and 
any master carpenter or mason will quickly estimate them. As a rule, 
the elaborate and well furnished structure is not the most convenient 
one, but those which have the greatest number of permanent conven- 
iences, and in which the space is most thoroughly economized. Hence 
within the last few years, or since the general introduction of improved 
machinery, farm barns have undergone a complete change in the manner 
of construction. 

Formerly barns were comparatively low structures where everything had 
to be done by manual labor; it was not economy to pile up hay, gi'ain, 
or other farm produce, story after story ; the labor of lifting, or carrying 
did not pay. Since the invention of hoisting machines and hay carriers, 
the invention of modern windmills, grinding mills, horse powers and 
other labor-saving machinery, twenty-five feet posts are not unusual, and 
no barn should be built of less than two stories. The gain thus secured is 
abundantly worth wluit it costs. 



G72 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

There are few farms where the drainage is so poor or the land so level 
but that a declivity sufficient for a basement barn may be had, l)y throw- 
ing the excavated portion up to assist in forming the trackwa}^ or rise to 
the main floor. Windmills are now so nearly automatic in their worldng 
that they may ver}^ safely be trusted to pretty much take care of them- 
selves. Therefore, in all the more pretentious farm barns, they should 
be built with special reference to the erection of a whidmill on top. 
This may be used for a variety of purposes, cutting fodder, grinding 
i]:;rain, pumping water, being its principal work. If the water is collected 
m a reservoir in the center of the moAV it will not freeze, and the 
pressure will always be equal, and thus the water may be carried in pipes 
any distance, to the house or the dairy, and become a most valuable 
economy. 

In the building of barns of superior size we have given descriptions of 
all but the circular barn, which can hardly be called a practical or 
economical structure, and the octagon barns will come under the same 
category ; for while economical in respect to space, they are more costly 
to build, if for no other reason than that they are unusual. We there- 
fore recommend the square barn in every case when the width is to be 
forty or more feet, with not less than twenty feet posts. This, with the 
the basement, will give two or three stories as necessity may require. 
The basement of course will be used for the stables, and if additional 
room be needed one or two wings may be added, ,and when farther space 
is needed two more. The diagrams showing the internal arrangements 
may easily be obtamed to suit such a structure while pursuing the general 
features of economical and labor-saving utilitj'. 

Summer Shelter. 

While the question of Winter shelter is of the first importance, it is 
necessary that Summer shelter be provided, and also for protection 
against the inclement storms of Spring after stock has been put upon 
pasture. During the feeding season the sheds and barns will suffice ; 
before pastures are flush the Winter shelter can be utilized, for some food 
must be given night and morning. During the prevalence of storms the 
stock will of course be kept up and fed. Later, however, it v/ill not bo 
found practicable. What is wanted is a range where stock may not only 
be secure from the wmds of driving storms, but where the^^ may retire 
for shelter during the extreme heat of Summer days. 

We do not believe in shaded pastures. They are poetic but not prac- 
tical. The object in keeping stock is to make them eat as much as possi- 
ble. The pasture should be devoted to grass. If shaded by single trees 
here and there, stock will very often haunt these when they should be 



CATTLE, HOW TO SHELTER. 



673 



feeding. While in motion in the act of grazing they do not suffer from 
heat. Therefore it is better that they be obliged to do some travel to 
reach the shade, and this shade if natural will generally have water near. 
If not, the artificial shade should be given at such places where water 
may be had from mills or ponds most cheaply. 




The accompanymg cut will show how this artificial shelter is accom- 
plished both by isolated trees in the pasture and by clumps and groves in 
the distance. As previously stated, the single trees we condemn, and 
they have been introduced to illustrate the ponit, and at the same time 
give effect to a most pleasant pastoral scene, and which any farmer may 
obtain in a gently undulating country. 

Where to Plant Shelter. 



This shelter should be planted along the crest of ridges, about gullies 
and ravines, and in fact wherever the soil is not adapted to cultivation. 
These points will be especially sought during the heat of Summer, and 
the timber will eventually more than pay the cost of planting in any 
prairie country. All high points are generally free to a great extent from 
biting insects. The ravines will afford shelter from winds and driving 



g74 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

storms, and also will be valuable as places where permanent water may 
be had either naturally or artificially by dramiug. In lieu of this plant 
shelter belts and groves near the low places where water may be had, or 
near natural water holes on the farm. 

What to Plant. 

For dry soil, anywhere south of 42 degrees, the Catalpa (Sped osa) 
will be found hardy. The variety Big nonioides is not hardy in the West 
north of about 38 degrees. Black walnut is valuable, so are all the 
maples, the cotton-wood does well almost anywhere, and if care is taken 
to procure cuttings of the male variety, (this tree bears male and female 
flowers on separate trees), you will have no trouble with the blowing 
about of the cotton during seeding time. Evergreens may be planted 
almost anywhere if the soil be moderately dry. The Norway spruce is 
most valuable, and next to this the white pine. For low lands, cotton- 
wood, the soft maples, and the white, the black and the golden willow 
will be indicated. Thus the farmer will find that this question of shel- 
ter, while one of the most important of the many connected with farm 
economy — the points relating to Summer shelter — will in the end prove 
one of the best paying investments in a praine country of any in the 
whole category. 



CHAPTER V. 



HOW TO PASTURE, FEED AND WATER. 



.IBOUT PASTURAGE. CLOVERS THAT DO WELL. UNDESIRARLE CLOVERS. ALFALFA. 

THE TRUE GRASSES. TIMOTHY, OR CAT'S TAIL GRASS. BLUE GRASS. RED 

TOP. ORCHARD GRASS. FOWL MEADOW GRASS. TIME FOR PASTURING. WA- 
TERING. FEEDING STOCK CATTLE. HOW TO FEED. FEEDING MILCH COWS. 

About Pasturage. 

The subject of pasture and meadow is one of the most important with 
which the farmer has to deal. It makes feed in Summer and forao;e in 
Winter. Yet, in the United States, riearlj all our meadows consist of 
one clover and one grass ; in other words, timothy and clover are our 
great meadow plants, and the addition of blue grass to this forms the 
bulk of our pasturage, always excepting, of course, the vast areas of wild 
grasses that still cover the great prairies and vast plains of the West, yet 
to l)e lirought into cultivation by man. 

Until within the last few ^-ears, or until the dairy interest began to 
assume such gigantic proportions, farmers got along well enough with 
these ; for, where stock raising for beef is the sole object, and wild 
grasses are plenty and grain easily raised, and consequently cheap, a very 
few grasses will suffice ; but the imj^etus given to dairying within the last 
few years, has fairly shown that the best results, nay, that even fair suc- 
cess cannot be had Avith a few grasses. This the dairymen in New York 
State came to understand years ago, and yet so little was known of. the 
adaptability of varieties to soils and climate, that our best farmers 
worked blindly in experimenting, and unfortunately, our botanists could 
do little more than furnish long strings of mere classical names of varie- 
ties as they were known in books, and could give almost no information 
as to their adaptability. 

43 ■ 675 



676 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Clovers that Do Well. 

Practically, the clovers are confined to three species. First, red clover, 
natural to all soils that are adapted to the cereal crops, as wheat, rye, 
barley, oats and corn, or such rich soils as do not heave under the frosts 
of Winter and S^Dring. If so, clover is apt to be thrown out, or at least 
to be so heaved as to be practically worthless, especially so from the fact 
that it is really a biennial plant ; that is, dying out at the end of the sec- 
ond year if allowed to seed. 

The next clover in general use is Dutch, or white clover. This does 
w^ell on soils somewhat moist, although it will not stand flooding. It is 
not especially relished by cattle, and at some seasons is apt- to give horses 
what is termed the slobbers ; that is, it causes them to form saliva to such 
a degree that it drops from the mouth freely. Cattle do not relish it, 
and it can hardly be called good feed for horses. A small portion of it 
in a permanent pasture does not come amiss, yet it is so natural to many 
soils that, like the plantain, w^hich the Indians have termed the white 
man's foot, white clover they have called the white man's grass. 

The only other variety of clover that we can recommend for cultiva- 
tion, is Alsike, sometimes called Swedish clover. This does well on 
moist land, and even bears some flooding. We consider it the next in value 
10 red clover, and altogether better pasture than white clover. It also 
makes good hay on soils too wet for red clover. 

Undesirable Clovers. 

There are a number of other species of clover, some of them indigenous 
to the West, which we only mention as a caution against their being 
sown. These are; two species of so called Buffalo clover; the upright 
and the running Buffalo clovers ; the upright or yellow clover ; and the 
low hop clover, a half-creeping variety. There is only one more variety 
worth mentioning, and this simply as a warning to farmers not to sow it, 
except for bee pasturage, and then only when it may not become a 
troublesome w^eed. We have reference to the tree clover or Bokhara clo- 
ver, specifically the white-flowered melilotus. It has been recommended 
as valuable for soiling ; that is, for cutting green for feeding to stock in 
stables. We give the same advice about sowing this clover that the 
crabbed lawyer did to a young client who asked his advice about getting 
married — Don't. 

Alfalfa. 

The case is different with alfalfa, the Spanish name for a plant known 
botanically as' medicago, and, in English by its French name Luzerne 



CATTLE, HOW TO PASTURE, ETC. 677 

This is valuable in soils adapted to it, deep dry soils not subject to hard 
freezing in Winter. In California it has become one of the standard 
forage crops. In some of the far west plains country it will undoubtedly 
be found to stand well, as it will in Texas and New Mexico. In South 
America, in the vast grazing region, it has become thoroughly naturalized, 
and is well worthy of trial wherever the Winters will not be too cold for 
it, say south of forty degrees north latitude. 

The True Grasses. 

It is to these that we must really look for our pasture plants, outside 
the few clovers we have mentioned. It is a vast, as it is the most impor-, 
tant of plants to man, comprising some 230 botanical genera, and not 
less than 3,000 species, and includes all our cereal grains, as wheat, rye, 
barley, oats, corn, etc. 

It would not be in place in this work to enter into a history of grass, 
and the characteristics of the several species, valuable as they may be. 
Our readers must therefore be content with a list of some of the more 
important varieties, as they have been tried, and their seasons, and some 
of their characteristics ; and this more for their value as pasture than 
hay, and for reasons previousl}^ given. 

Timothy, or Cat's Tail Grass. 

The first in importance is timothy ; a better name, as more perfectly 
describing its characteristics, would be cats-tail grass, by which it is 
known in England. It does well in all clayey or clay loam soils that are 
not too wet, and makes the best hay of any of our grasses. For pasture 
it is among the least valuable, if we except cattle, since one peculiarity 
is that just at the ground it forms a bulb, which if bitten in close grazino-, 
as horse's, sheep and hogs are apt to do, it dies. It is also a grass that 
will not bear hard tramping. 

Blue Grass. 

This is the great pasture grass of the Western States, in its two varie- 
ties, Kentucky blue grass, which flourishes best south of forty deo-rees 
north latitude, and wire grass, which is found well up into Wisconsin and 
Minnesota. Here again is confusion of common names. In Pennsylvania 
it is called green grass, and this is really a suggestive name. It really 
remains green early and late, longer than any other of our cultivated 
grasses. 

Blue grass forms a tough, firm sward, springing early in the Spring, 



678 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

growing late in the Fall, and holding its substance well in the Winter. 
So that after being pastured in Spring if allowed to grow on through the 
Summer and Autumn, cattle and other stock may be wintered on it 
admirably, when deep snow does not cover the ground. Both varieties 
are found in their best perfection in limestone soils, although tliey do 
well according to latitude on all strong, rich, and even on some Tather 
thin soils if well drained. Neither variety is adapted to wet soils. It 
cannot be called a hay grass, its great value being for pasturage. 

Red-Top. 

The next grass in importance, because found to do well on a great 
variety of soils, is red-top. It makes good hay and is valuable for 
pasturage. It should be more generally cultivated than it is, being- 
adapted to a very considerable range of soils, neither very wet nor very 
dry. As before stated, in Pennsylvania this is called herd's grass, and we 
may add in Rhode Island it is known as Burden's grass. While red-top 
has a goodly range of soils to which it adapts itself fairly, it does best 
on a rather moist soil, flowering rather late, or about the same time or 
later than timothy. It dries out considerably in curing into hay, and is 
not very rich in sugar, gum or starch, three important elements in feeding. 
It is a strictly p^ennial species, and forms a pretty dense sod, when well 
established. 

Orchard Grass. 

This is really one of the most yalunble grasses for extensive trial as a 
tirst-class pasture grass in the whole list of cultivated grasses. The 
wonder is that a grass so generally regarded as excellent in Europe, should 
have made its way so tardily in this grass country. This is probably 
from its habit of growing in tufts where sown thinly. It is one of the 
earliest of the grasses to start in the Spring, is strictly a perennial, starts 
freely after being grazed or mown, and if sown thickly makes excellent 
hay. It thrives better than most of the grasses in a partial shade, and 
hence its common name, orchard grass. 

For pasture it should be sown at the rate of not less than two bushels 
of seed per acre,— three bushels is better. It is very light, weighing only 
fourteen pounds per bushel. When sown for hay we have had excellent 
success by seeding at the rate of sixteen pounds of orchard grass, and ten 
pounds of clover per acre. It is excellently adapted to sowing with red 
clover, since it blossoms more nearly with clover than almost any other 
of the grasses. 



I 



CATTLE, HOW TO PASTURE, ETC. 679 

Fowl Meadow Grass. 

This is another most valuable grass, considered especially so for hay, 
and to our mind quite valuable for pasturage, particularly for dairy stock. 
Like prairie hay it is quite free from dust, and at the same time it possesses 
all the essential elements of nutrition in a high degree. In all new coun- 
tries the first dependence must be on the wild grasses. The real difficulty 
is, farmers do not undertake the cultivated grasses until forced to. If a 
trial of the important varieties here noticed shall lead to the testing of 
still other sorts, the time will soon come when our farmers will wonder 
how they could have gone on so long without appreciating at their true 
value many varieties, that the aim and scope of this work precludes even 
the mention. 

Time for Pasturing. 

It is important that cattle be not onh^ fully fed but that they have their 
feed at regular intervals. Where stock are driven to and from pasture 
they should be turned on soon after daylight in the morning, and not taken 
out until sundown. It is especially necessary that they get the g;rass 
while yet it is covered with dew. So, where stock are* kept and fed in 
stables, the first feed should be given early in the morning, just what they 
will eat clean. This should ])e supplied not less than three times a day ; 
and at night, to insure full stomachs, some extra feed as meal, shorts, 
etc., should be added. 

Salt should be kept Avhere the animals can get it at will. They will 
thus get enough for their wants, and just as they want it, and will eat less 
than where supplied at the stables, or out-of-doors, at irregular times. 
Irregular feeding of salt is one of the worst possible practices. Salt is a 
cathartic when given in large doses, and this danger should be avoided. 

In Winter, Avhether the animals are kept in stables, in sheds, in feeding- 
yards or in the shelter of groves, the same regularity of feeding should 
be observed. Stock should also be graded, if possible, so there will be 
no very strong and very weak ones together. And those of a given age 
should be fed together. Where animals are fed in groves or in fields a 
much larger, and, in fact, more irregular drove, as to age and strength, 
may be kept together, than under open sheds or in close feeding-yards. 
Feed early alwaj'^s, as soon after daylight as the animals can see to feed, 
and let the last mess at night be given so as to be well finished just before 
dark. When fed in stables the same rule should be observed. Early 
and late feeding of good fodder, and in such quantities as they will eat 
tolerably clean, is what keeps growing animals going right along. This 



680 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

is what the wise feeder seeks, for thus he secures the best possible gain, 
with the least loss in daily natural waste of the physical system. 

Watering* 

Whether it be Winter or Summer, it is absolutely necessary that cattle 
have an abundance of water. Without this, given at regular times, there 
can be no profit to the feeder. Cattle may be driven to it twice a day, if 
the conditions are such that they cannot be fed in the same range where 
the water lies. When cattle are kept in stables, it is altogether better 
that the water be conducted there in pipes so as to run directly into their 
drinking troughs. It will be found cheapest in the end. If there is no 
living water, do not depend upon holes cut in the ice of ponds. It is not 
only dangerous to the cattle, but will cost more in the end than any other 
plan of watering. If the water is to be taken from Avells, or ponds, erect 
a good windmill, with suitable tanks, with pipes so they will not freeze, 
leading to ample troughs. Let these be in the yards where the stock 
take their rest, or else in the feeding range. Then see that they have 
plenty of it, and plenty of salt where they can lick it at will. If the cattle 
are to be fed out-of-doors on ear corn and hay, see that proper troughs 
are provided for 'corn and racks for hay ; let them be large and ample. 
Where this is done, close yards should be provided with warm shelter and 
water. 

Feeding Stock Cattle. 

In wintering stock cattle the main dependence will be hay or corn 
fodder. These, if good, are perfect food, that is fed together, or hay 
fed alone will keep cattle growing, if they do not suffer from the cold. 
In feeding the same rule should be adopted as in fattening cattle. See 
that they are not given enough to waste, but do not force them to eat 
rough, coarse, stalky or weedy hay clean . No animal ever did well on 
food it did not like. To make money in growing cattle they must not go 
hungry Winter or Summer. If the fodder is prairie hay see that the 
best and softest is reserved for the calves, and next best for the cows. 
The oxen and steers will do fairly well on hay somewhat coarser. 

How to Peed. 

Calves should hare some grain daily ; oats are best, one quart each, or 
the equivalent in other grain. Cows expected to calve the succeeding 
Spring, should have from four to six ears of corn daily, or its equivalent 
in some other grain ; and oxen when not working, about the same. 



CATTLE, HOW TO PASTURE, ETC. 681 

When working, give the same as to a fattening steer, or about a half 
bushel a day. 

Cattle intended for fattening the succeeding year should have especial 
care the previous Winter. They should have feed enough to keep them 
growing right along, say about half the quantity of grain given to fatten- 
ing steers, that is, allowing the feeders do not believe in forcing the animal 
from calfhood constantly, until ready for the butcher. The best and 
most successful feeders do force, and none that we know who have ever 
tried it could ever be induced to go back to the old way of letting stock 
make a gain in Summer, to lose half or more of it in W^inter. 

Feeding Milch Cows. 

Whatever the plan of feeding or sheltering cattle for the butcher — of* 
course, fattening cattle will have more attention given them, so far as 
food, water, and shelter are concerned — milch cows must have soft food. 
No dairyman ever made any money by feeding cows in milk on dry hay, 
ear corn, or dry grain ; for cows it must be ground. 

In feeding, the owner will, of course, be guided by the relative value 
of food in the market. If possible, a little ground oil-cake should form 
a daily portion, about half a pound per cow. In all the West, corn-meal 
is the cheapest food, except in the neighborhood of large merchant flour- 
ing mills. One great difficulty with corn-meal is it is heating. It should 
be fed almost measure for measure with bran ; ten pounds of this with 
the addition of half a pound of ground oil-cake, with plenty of good hay, 
will be liberal feeding. If the cow will eat fifteen pounds of meal and 
bran, it will be wise economy to give it to her. She will not eat so much 
hay, and in a corn country hay is dearer than corn, and as a rule an acre 
of corn is raised fully as cheap as an acre of hay. 




CHAPTER VI. 



BENEFITS OP KIND AND CAREFUL TREATMENT. 



FEEDING FOR PROFIT. AS BETWEEN WELL AND ILL KEPT STOCK. HEAVY WEIGHTS. 

PROFIT IN EARLY MATURITY. MAKE BEEF YOUNG. BABY BEEF. FEEDING; COST 

IN ENGLAND. SUMMER FEEDING. ANIMAL WASTE. ANIMAL HEAT. ADVAN- 
TAGES OP SUMMER AND WINTER FEEDING. 

Feeding for Profit. 

It should require no argument to show the benefits of khid and consid- 
erate treatment in the rearing of live stock of any kind, and in the treat- 
ment after they become mature. One reason w^hy so many persons fail 
to be successful in fattening stock is that they do not use due considera- 
tion in their treatment. The man who kicks and clubs his stock, or 
allows his hired help to do so, never yet produced a prize steer, and never 
will. Obesity and activity do not go together, neither will undue excita- 
bility allow of a steady increase in fat. Hence the feeder, for the sake 
of his pocket, should see that fattening cattle are kept entirely quiet. To 
insure this the sagacious breeder avoids not only cattle naturally irritable, 
but those raised by persons of known bad or brutal temper. We have 
known a stable of cattle thrown off their feed for days by a sudden fright. 
Those frights are quite apt to occur from the slightest causes. Where 
strange cattle, raised half wild, are confined together — and this is not 
rare among stock that have been picked up indiscriminately, and what 
are known as woods or prairie cattle — the first effort of j;he sagacious 
feeder is to get the confidence of the stock. This is only accomplished 
by gentleness, not by any means inconsistent with firmness. The cattle 
must know and obey their master. Their knowledge of him must be that 
they receive food and kind treatment at his hands, and not stabs with the 

682 



CATTLE, KIND TREATMENT. 680 

fork, nor beatings with the handle, or kicks, because they ha]3pen to stand 
within reach of some brutal feeder. The inference is that the humane 
man is apt to have humane help ; the brutal stock man will have brutal 
help, and the stock will be very apt to partake of the character of their 
master. 

As between well and ill-kept Stock. 

Aside from some wealthy professional men, having suburban farms, 
stock is kept solely for the profit it will bring. The stock of amateurs 
are not only carefully housed and fed, but they are kept at the height of 
perfection, so far as costly appointments and careful grooming is con- 
cerned. The practical man arrives at the same results in a different and 
cheaper way, but none the less certainly. His shelters may be of the 
most homely kind, even made with poles and slough hay, but are warm 
and comfortable. He cannot afford iron mangers and water pipes through 
his stables, but his troughs are tight and solidly built, and his animals are 
regularly fed and watered. He will not have blankets in winter and 
sheets in summer, but his animals will be well and carefully fed, and 
sheltered from the earliest age until ready for sale. 

The humane man will get ten dollars more for a cow because she will 
be gentle and well trained to give down her milk without resistance. His 
steers will bring from one to two cents per pound extra in market, for 
the reason that the constant care given them will have resulted in extra 
weight and condition. Let us see what two cents per pound amounts to. 
His steer of a given age, say three years, is fed from birth so that it has 
never fallen in condition, but has constantly gained, and will weigh from 
1300 to 1600 pounds, according to the breed. The steer of the man who 
does not believe in feeding nor properly treating his animals, will weigh 
off of grass 900 or 1000 pounds. The good feeder will got five-and-a- 
half cents per pound gross weight, or $71.50 for the 1300 lb. steer, and $88 
for the heavier one. The poor feeder will get, say three cen^^s per pound, 
or $27 to $30. One may see this every day of the year at the stock-yards 
of our western cities. It does not cost $20 more to make the good steer 
than the poor one ; so the enhanced profits are nearly $25 in the one case 
and $48 in the other ; in other words, the good and humane feeder gets 
the enhanced price on the poor feeder's 1000 pounds, and on what he has 
put on besides by his considerate care and constant good feeding. We 
have partially shown this in another part of the work, in alluding to the 
daily animal waste. That is an integer. This animal waste may be pro- 
duced excessively, whatever the system of feeding, if animals are sub- 
jected to frights and bruises, as well as by exposure to storms and lack 
of sufficient food. 



684 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Heavy Weights. 

Until the inauguration of the Chicago Fat Stock Show, under the 
auspices of the Board of Agriculture of Illinois, very little reliable data 
could be had as to gain in feeding animals of various ages. It was well 
understood, however, that the young animal gained faster in proportion 
to the amount of food consumed, than the mature animal, and that the 
older and fatter the animal became, the less the daily gain. As showing 
actual facts we append the statements of exhibitors, sworn to in some of 
the more important classes shown there, and the reports of committee 
thereon ; 

"Among the heavy cattle were the following, and credited to weigh, as 
taken from the pasture and feeding yards, as follows : The steer Gov. 
Morton, 3,190 lbs; Bumside, 2,870; Hoosier Boy, 2,640; Nels. Morris, 
2,840 pounds. The following are the actual, weights as given by the 
committee, on animals 1 year to 4 years old : 

Messrs. Graves & Co., one sieer 4 years old, 2,445 ; one steer 3 years 
old, 2,060. 

A. F. Moore, one steer 2 years old, 1,786. 

J. D. Gillett, one steer 3 years old, 2,139. 

Wing* &• Thompson, one steer, 4 years old, 2,240; one steer 4 years 
i»ld, 2,166; one cow, 1,525; one cow, 1,610. 

John B. Sherman, one steer 3 years old, 2,019. 

J. N. Brown's Sons, one steer 2 years old, 1,446 ; one steer 2 years 
old, 1,449; one steer 2 years old, 1,636 ; one steer 2 years old, 1,316 ; 
one steer 2 years old, 1,246; one steer 1 year old, 1,338; one steer 1 
year old, 1,249 ; one steer 1 year old, 1,193. 

Dexter Curtis, one cow, 1,833; one cow, 2,042; one cow, 1,936." 

In this, of the interesting facts shown, is the great weight attained by 
one, two and three-year-old steers, as well as the great ultimate weights 
attained by mature oxen, viz. : Best one-year-old, weight 1,338 pounds ; 
best two-year-old, weight 1,786 pounds; best three-year-old, 2,139 
pounds ; and the heaviest 3,190 pounds. The crucial test in every 
examination being simply the value of the animal for the butcher. The 
rscovds given below will repay the study, and the reports of the com- 
mittees, as given, will show the points upon which the several decisions have 
been made : 

The conirnittee on Short-Horn steers, 4 years old and over, make the 
following report on ages, weights, and gains per day, and add the comments 
which are appended : 



CATTLE, KIND TREATMENT. 



685 



CLASS A — CATTLE. SHORT-HORNS — THOROUGHBREDS. 



[TABLE 1]. 



EXHIBITOR. 



1. W. VV. Penfield 

2. W. VV. Peulield 

3. J. II. Graves 

4. VVuiu; A Thompson 
6. Wing & Thompson 

Average 



Atrp ill 
days. 



Weight 

N..V. 10, 

1879. 



2m') 
2.155 
J. 948 

1.598 
1.578 

1.8(51 



2,500 
2.438 
2.415 
2,166 
2,250 

2,358 



Average 

gain per day 

111 punnd.s 

since hirlli. 



1.22 
1.13 
1.25 
1.36 
1 42 

1 28 



The cominittee in their report on this ring say : 

The ring was made up of a remarkably fine bmieh of well-developed 
steers ; all were uniformly fat, with flesh well distributed in the most 
valuable portions of the carcass. 

The animals reflected great credit upon the States in which they were 
fed, namely : Ohio, Kentuck}^ and Illinois. 

The first-premium steer was deep red in color, smooth and even through- 
out, with straight top and bottom lines ; broad, deep loin, well filled out ; 
round, smooth, compact barrel ; short in leg, with fine bone and small 
head. 

This steer excelled the others in the ring in having more good flesh on 
the back and loin, with a small portion of cheap, unsalable fat meat, 
with square, deep, symmetrical quarters, well covered down to the knee 
and gambrel joint. 

The second-premium steer Avas a deep red steer of superior quality, and 
In choice condition for the block, and, in the main, as good as the first- 
premium steer, but was not as free from bunches of fat, especially on' 
the rump. 

The remaining steers in the ring, while worthy of special commendation, 
were coarser and older than the prize-winners, and not as well filled out 
in the shoulder and thigh, and were patched. 

The first-premium steer was the youngest in the ring, and showed the 
largest average gain per day since birth. 

The second-premium steer stood second in this respect. 



SHORT-HORNS — THOROUGHBREDS. COW^ THREE YEARS OR OVER. REPORT OP COMMITTEE. 

The ring consisted of eight cows of unusual excellence as a lot, showinL' 
great difference, however, in the matter of age, type, form and mode of 
handling. 

The aged animals were uneven, and carried too large a portion of meat 
of inferior quality ; too gross ; some were very badly patched, 



686 



No. 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 
[TABLE 2]. 



ExninnoR. 



Dexter Curtis 

Dexter Curtis 

R. K. & A. S. Brownlie 

Sam. E. Prather 

Sam. E. Prather 

VV. F. Gordon 

VV. F. Gordon 

Wing & Thompson 

Averaofe 



Ago \n 

days. 



2.560 
3.667 
2.065 
2.731 
1.186 
3.064 
2.241 
1,428 

2,364 



Weight 

Nov. 10, 

1879. 



2.042 
1.936 
1,769 
1.833 
1.525 
1.901 
1,669 
1,616 

1,786 



Average g.iiii 
jier day 
since biriii. 



0.70 
0.52 
0.86 
0.67 
1.25 
0.62 
74 
1.13 



.81 



The cows averaged over six years in age, and some were over ten years 
old. Some of the old breeding cows were very undesirable for the block, 
and the meat would not be rated as even medium. 

The first-premium cow was a deep red and of the lot the finest in bone, 
head and neck, the smoothest and best proportioned throughout, with an 
extra well-filled fore and hind quarter. In the great depth and even dis- 
tribution, of solid, mellow flesh, straight top and bottom line, broad back, 
and thick loin, this cow excelled. 

The second-premium cow was somewhat coarser in head and not as 
smooth or evenly fatted, and rather deficient in back and loin ; ■ otherwise 
as good as the first-premium animal. 



SHORT-HORNS — THOROUGHBRED. STEERS TWO AND UNDER THREE YEARS 

[TABLE 3]. 



0. 


EXHIBITOR. 


Affe in 
day.«. 


Weigiit 

Nov. 10, 

1879. 


Average 
gain per day 
since birth. 


1. 

5) 


J. N. Brovvn's Sons 

J N Brown's Sons 


845 
814 
953 

871 


1.636 
1.449 

1,786 


1.93 

1.78 


s 


A. F. Moore 


1.87 




Average 






1.624 


1.86 



The committee reported on this ring as follows : 

This ring was composed of three very superior steers, showing unusual 
development and ripeness for age. In size, symmetry, and distribution 
of meat in the best cuts, they would pay the butcher the most profit, and 
furnish the consumer with the best quality of first-class meat. 

The first premium steer was red in color, had the best back and loin of 
the three steers, and showed the greatest development for age. Was the 
smoothest steer, with smaller head and lighter in horn ; small, neat, short 
neck, with the widest and deepest breast ; better in width of back and 



CATTLE, HEAVY WEIGHTS. 687 

thicker in loin. This steer was smooth and free from bunches, with firm, 
solid and mellow flesh. The quarters were heavy and well proportioned 
and well filled doAvn to knee and gambrel joint. The shortness in leg 
and the fineness of bone is worthy of special mention. 

The second premium steer was a rich roan, not as evenly fatted as the 
first premium steer — more uneven top and botton? line than the first 
premium steer. 

STEEBS THREE AND UNDER FOUR YEARS. 

[TABLE 4]. 

I I Age in | Weight | Average 

No. EXHIBITOR. I clays. Nov. 10, I gain per day 



1S79. since birth. 



1.1 John Sherman I 1.3U I 2.019 I 1.53 

2. J. 11. Graves 1.3:}5 2 060 1.45 



Average 1.326 ! 2.039 I 1.531-2 



I 



The committee's report on this ring is as follows : 

"This ring consisted of two very superior, well-developed and evenly- 
matched steers in point of age and weight. 

The superior quality of the flesh and the proper distribution of the 
meat in the best parts of the carcass was particularly noticeable in both 
steers. 

The first premium steer, a light roan, was perfectly smooth and free 
from bunches, and a good handler. He was straighter on the back than 
his competitor, with better hind-quarters. This steer was a Ioav blocky, 
heavy-set steer, short in leg, fine bone, neat head, well cut up under 
throat, short neck, broad and deep in brisket, broad, straight back, 
heavy loin, with thick round, well meated down to the knee and gambrel 
joint. 

The meat was firmer and more solid than on the first premium animal, 
which was fatter, and from all appearances would cut to better advantage 
and furnish meat of a superior quality. 

The second premium steer was an extra well fatted red steer of great 
merit ; was rather more leggy and coarser in head and bone than the 
other steer." 

Profit in Early Maturity. 

In the foregoing reports it will be noticed that the best gain was in 
steer one year old and under two ; the next best gain was in steer 
two year old and under three, 1.93 pounds per day ; the next best gain 
was in steer three years old and under four, 1.54 pounds per day. Then 



^88 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

in following the gain in cows over three j^ears old, the average will be a 
diminishing quantity, until in the case of the cow ten years old, table 2, 
No, 12, the daily gain is but 0.52 of a pound; and in the case of the 
oldest steer, nearly six j^ears old, table 1, No. 2, the daily gain was 1.13 
pounds per day. These great results were arrived at by warm shelter, 
careful feeding, and as careful care from birth — most potent factors in 
any case when money is to be made in cattle, either for beef or the dairy. 

As a rule, a yearling, as it is ordinarily Avintered, will weigh much less 
in the Spring than in the previous Autumn. The next Spring and Sum- 
mer it must first regain the flesh lost, and then add to growth and weight. 
The next Winter it again loses flesh, and at two years old often will not 
weigh as much as it did at eight months old. So it goes on gaining a 
little in Summer and losing as constantly in Winter, until at the end of 
the fourth year the animal will weigh 1,000 pounds — less than the same 
animal would have been made to weigh at eighteen months old with good 
common shelter and feed. There are cases in new countries where feed- 
ing, except hay, cannot be had ; where this is plenty, and the range good, 
cattle may be raised at a minimum cost — simply salting and herding in 
Summer, and feedhig in AVinter. Here again the question of shelter must 
be considered and will be found to pay, and without which no profit can 
be realized. 

This-system of feeding, however, is no longer feasible except in limited 
areas. The great West is fast settling up and increasing in wealth. 
Herds are yearlj^ improving through attention to breeding and feeding — 
the result of the cultivation of vast areas in corn, the seeding of meadows 
and pastures, and in superior buildings for wintering stock. The history 
of the thickly settled portions must be the history of the ncAver regions 
in the future. The profits, in farming in the West, are in the stock sold. 
Pastures and meadows are the groundwork of good farming everywhere. 
Thus verifying the Belgian maxim : No pasture no cattle ; no cattle no 
manure -, no manure no crops. 

Make Beef Young. 

The time has gone by when it would be believed that an animal must 
reach the age of four or five years before it could make good l^eef . The 
time has also passed when the mere tallow in an animal would sell it. 
The reason why we have so little beef fit for export to the English market, 
and which will bring in Western markets from five to six cents per pound 
gross weight, is that very few western farmers have adopted the English 
standard of forcing a calf from the time it is born until it is killed, the 
age never exceeding three years. This tendency of English breeders and 



CATTLE, HEAVY WEIGHTS, ETC. 689 

feeders has hccn the growth of years. They had first to combat the idea 
that beef must have age before it could be healthy meat. First, they 
compromised on three years ; the beef was pronounced good. Then the 
cattle were pronounced at thirty months fully as good and ripe : they also 
found that they got enhanced profits from this manner of feeding. Then 
two-year olds were forced to the same weight that had previously been 
attained at three years. Last year beef from eleven to twenty months 
was sold, and from an article prepared by Mr. Henry Evershed, for the 
Royal Agricultural Journal^ in which the experience of some eminent 
farmers given, we find interesting matter in relation to very young beef, 
or, as they term it, 

Baby Beef. 

Among others, Mr. Stanford, of Charlton Court, is credited with 
having sold the following heifers and steers in 1878, the animals being 
high-grade Short-Horns, at ages and prices given below : 

Return per month 

Price. from hirth. 

One eleven-months-old steer $ 74 00 $6 73 

One thirtet'n-raonths-old steer 10164 7 82 

Three tourteen-moiiths-old heifers, average 92 40 6 60 

Three fitteen-months-oid heifers, average 101 64 6 77 

One sixieen-months-old steer 102 30 6 39 

One eighteen-raonths-old steer ll.o 50 6 42 

One eigliteen-and-a-half-raonths-old steer 129 36 7 00 

Two eighteen-and-a-half-months old sieers, average 122 10 6 60 

The weights of these, some of them were calves, is not given, but the 
price is stated at from 1(3 to 18 cents (our money) per pound, net weight 
— meaning, we suppose, the four quarters. The best 16 months old 
steer must have weighed something like 1,200 lbs. alive, allowing the 
quarters to have been 65 per cent, of the whole weight — a not very large 
allowance for such young cattle. In the last Chicago Fat Stock Show, 
the best steer, 28 months old, weighed 1,636 lbs. The best steer one 
year old and under two 1,338 lbs., showing that our best feeders not only 
show fully as early maturity as English feeders, but likewise as wonder- 
fully good weights. 

In relation to the English animals mentioned above, Mr. Evershed 
writes : 

'*The above figures show that tolerably-bred Short-Horns will return 
7s. a week from birth on this system, at from 13 to 18 months old. 
Those Short-Horns which afforded the least return were bought in the 
market, and those which gave the highest were by Mr. Stanford's pedigree 
bull, out of his well bred, but not pedigree cows. The best feeders of 



690 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

country-bred cattle in Sussex and Surrey inform me that they consider a 
fair average weight for animals, well fed from birth, 100 Smithfield stone 
at one hundred weeks, giving a return of one stone (8 l])s. dressed 
weight) per week, or 6s. ($1.32) per week." 

Our authority mentions a steer killed that dressed 132 stone at one 
hundred weeks, equivalent to 1,760 lbs. live weight. Some sixteen^ 
months steers dressed, in the quarters, 600 lbs., having 120 lbs. of rough 
fat, and a very small proportion of offal. He states that the best feeders 
are able to reach an average of $1.43 per week at sixteen to twenty 
months, from a Short-Horn cross on common cows. 

Feeding— Cost in England. 

The English feeder is content with the manure resulting from this 
manner of feeding stock, if indeed he can get this for his trouble. As 
to the cost of making what is termed a "baby bullock" of seventy-one 
weeks, the following is given, reduced to our standard of dollars and 
cents : 

Purchase of calf. $ 8 88 

Four weeks' new milk, Gquarts daily, at2cl per quart 6 16 

Eight weeks' skimmed milk, 6 quarts daily, at l-2d per quart, and 2 lbs. of meal at 

l-4d per lb 5 68 

Seventeen weeks in June, July, August and September, on a daily diet of 2 lbs. of 

linseed cake, 2 lbs. bean meal, mano^el, hay, grass, clover, etc 17 57 

Twenty-six weeks to end of March — 5 lbs. of cake and meal daily, 3 4 busliel of 

roots, hay and straw for fodder 30 27 

Sixteen weeks to harvest — 8 lbs. of cake and meal daily, mangel, grass, clover — total, 

$1 59 per week 25 44 

Attendance, 71 weeks at II cents 7 81 

Insurance, interest, and rent of shed 5 54 

Total.. $107 35 

Our authority estimates the value of the manure at 20 per cent, of 
the cost of the food, $85.12, or value of manure $17.02. His account 
stands thus : 

DR. 

A bnJlock 71 weeks old $107 35 

Profit 17 69 

Total $125 04 

CPw. 

A bullock sold at 71 weeks old $108 02 

Value of manure 17 02 

Total $125 04 

Let any feeder take a calf at five dollars at birth, figure the cost of 
everything fed in raising, new milk, skim milk, oil-cake, and ground food 
if raised by hand, or the interest on the cow if allowed to run, care. 



I 



CATTLE, HEAVY WEIGHTS, ETC. GOl 

insurance, etc., it will, if carefull}^ managed, show figures on the riirht 
side of the ledger. Unfortunate!}^ there is no data to show, but our best 
feeders for early maturity seem perfectly satisfied with the outcome on 
steers of from two to three j-ears of age, and probably might be so with 
younger ones if it were not the fact that animals do so well until three 
years of age that they dislike to kill them younger ; besides, in the West it 
is found cheaper to grow the cattle rather slowly and give them somewhat 
longer time. It is a question of cheap food as against labor in the care 
of cattle in stables, in Winter, and soiling ; that is, feeding in stables on 
grass and other food, artificially prepared, in Summer. 

From what we have shown, the reader will come to the conclusion that 
we are a firm believer in shelter and humane treatment. The facts we 
have given will, we think, fuUv substantiate tlie correctness of these 
premises. No sensible person will, w^e think, doubt the soundness of 
the proposition that the animal should be kept growing during the cold 
season, when both feeding and shelter are necessary. The object with 
anv feeder is to get the greatest net gain for the food consumed, and in 
the shortest time. 

Under this system of feeding the profit was seen. The humanitv lies 
in the fact that the animals had during their lives the greatest enjovment 
that brutes are capable of — that of feeding and quiet rest. The owner 
has his reward both in a pecuniary and conscientious sense. 

Summer Feeding. 

It is only within the last few years that our best feeders have supple- 
mented pasturage in Summer with grain. In England this has been done 
for yeaVs. The rational of the matter is this. To keep animals in the 
highest possible condition, the pastures must be flush, that is, thev must 
produce full feed at all times. Every master-feeder knows this is not 
practicable during some of the Summer months. The Jul}^ and Auo:ust 
pastures will not carry what the May and June pastures will. Gradually 
they began to adopt the practice of fully stocking the pastures and givino- 
the animals what grain they would eat in connection with grass. At times 
they will eat very little, especially when pastures are in their full succulence 
of young greenness ; but a little meal will be eaten everv day. The sys- 
tems of the cattle thus remain in better average condition than when fed 
on grass only, in Summer, and on hay and grain in Winter. Animals 
when on succulent pastures require some dry food : they will often eat 
hay at such times. The meal or soaked corn, if animals are used to it, 
modifies the succulence of the grass and clover, containing as they do 
from seventy to eighty per cent, of water. Full grain feeding, with hay 
44 



692 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

ill only small quantities, tends to the creation of unnatural heat and fever. 
Food ground, and fed moist with considerable hay, obviates this tendency 
somewhat, aud the more the stomach is distended with fodder the less 
the tendency to fever. 

Natural per cent, of Water in Food. 

The proportion of water to flesh-forming and fat-forming substance in 
natural food, (herbage), will range from seventy to eighty per cent. 
The proportion of water necessary with dry feed may be stated at about 
sixty per cent, in Winter, and more in Summer, varying with the heat 
and humidity of the atmosphere. Upon succulent herbage in Summer 
the animal tissues will contain more fluid than in Winter, on dry food ; 
hence the necessity and economy in Winter-feeding to keep the animals 
fully supplied with water, so that certain portions of their systems will 
not be obliged to abstract the natural fluids from other parts of the body. 
Upon turning cattle to pasture in Spring they often seem to fatten sud- 
denly. jNIuch of this is due to increased assimilation of water in the 
tissues. The advantage of pasturage in Summer is that it tends to ameli- 
orate the condition of the animal by reducing the feverish state of the 
system, acquired during the Winter feeding on dry food. Hence the 
value of roots, where easily and cheaply raised — ^turnips in England ; 
turnips, carrots, and beets, in the Eastern States ; and beets and carrots 
in the West. In the West, roots are not given so much for their fattening 
quality ; but when these are fed at the rate of one quarter bushel or less 
per day, they act as a digestive element to the other food, causing more 
perfect assimilation. When these are not to be had, bran should consti- 
tute a portion of the food given. • 

Animal Waste. 

It is generally considered as true that about two-thirds of the food 
consumed goes to supply the animal heat and waste. All grass-feeding 
animals that have to sustain themselves for long periods in the wild state, 
on scanty food, accumulate large masses of fat in the Summer months. 
During the Winter this is gradually dissipated (consumed) in the effort 
to keep up the animal heat, and by Spring the animals are thin and weak. 
Precisely the same thing occurs in the ordinary way of wintering stock on 
hay out-of-doors. They become thin, often emaciated, and sometimes 
die, in the effort of the owner to see upon how little food he can bring 
tliem through alive. Not only all the food given has been consumed, 
burned up, in the effort to keep warm, but also all the fat, Avhere accumu- 
lated in masses about the body. Not only this ; before the animal finally 



CATTLE, KIND TREATMENT. 693 

succumbs, the fat mingled vrith the muscles and other heat-forming sub- 
stances, will have been consumed. Yet many persons who consider them- 
selves humane and Christian men, follow this plan year after year. It is 
true they suffer in purse and in vexation. Is it possible to be supposed 
that their depleted pockets will compensate for the suffering of the poor 
brutes under their care ? It is hardly a supposable case that it should 
be so. 

Animal Heat. 

The natural temperature of the body is 100 degrees. If the temjiera- 
ture go above that it indicates fever ; if below it is a chill ; either condi- 
tion, if not counteracted, will be fatal to life. The advantage and 
economy of full feeding in Summer, as well as in Winter, will be under 
stood when we remember, tliat, whatever the temperature of the air, the 
animal heat ^vill be 100. When the temperature will average 60 to 65 
degrees, as it will during the season of pasturage, it will require onlv food 
enough to raise this temperature by 35 to 40 degrees to bring it to 100. 
All else the animal eats goes to make weight. If during the Winter the 
average temperature be 30 degrees, it will require food enough to ho 
eaten to raise the temperature by 70 degrees to reach blood heat and 
keep up the animal integrity. Here again all food taken in excess of the 
animal waste is gain. But another integer here steps in. It requh'cs less 
proportionate food to keep the animal force intact with a high thermome- 
ter than with a low one ; that is, it requires more than double to supplv 
the waste with the thermometer at 20 than it does with the thermom- 
eter at 60. 

There is a limit of cold bej'ond which neither animal nor plant can 
endure. In other words, when the cold becomes so intense that the 
capacity of the stomach to digest is counteracted by the animal waste, 
death ensues. Thus we often hear of whole droves being dcstroved, 
where exposed to the force of strong chilling winds, as the "Blizzards" 
of Minnesota, "Northwesters" of the plains, and "Northers" of Texas. 
In a still atmosphere the animals would have wnthstood a much greater 
degree of cold, for the reason that they Avould have carried an atmosphere 
of heat about them. In the wind the heat was blown away, and in the 
attempt to supply heat as fast as destroyed the animal economy gave way 
and refused longer to exert itself. 

Advantages of Full Summer and Winter Feeding. 

From what we have written the reader vrill have learned that there is 
no economy in scant feeding of animals either in Summer or Winter. 



694 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The facts are, those feeders make the most money who not only give the 
warmest shelter m Winter, with liberal feeding, but who carry their 
stock fully up to the feeding point in Summer. Where corn is as easily 
raised as it is in the West, many of our best farmers will tell you they 
can produce an acre of corn for less than an acre of hay. We have cul- 
tivated Go acres to the hand in a field of 1,500 acres, and at a cost of one 
and one-third days' work for team and man per acre, up to the time of, 
but not includinc;, the huskins:. 

One advantage of feeding grain the year round is that you may stock 
your pastures so fully that the grass will be kept "evenly grazed, thus 
enabling you to carry more cattle in Summer on a given area of pasture, 
and enabling you to produce more corn for Winter feeding. Another 
advantage is, the animals become fatter, and thus do not lose so nmch 
animal heat in Winter. Still another advantage is, you hasten maturity, 
and thus save interest on capital, insurance and other items of cost. 

These facts should be enough to convince the sensible man of the value 
of hiirh feedins: in connection with shelter, aside from the anhnus of this 
chapter, that the humane feeder— he who treats his animals most kindly 
and feeds best — is really the one who makes the most money. 



CHAPTER VII. 



HOW TO BUY AND HOW TO SELL. 



THE VALUE OF GOOD CARE ESTIMATIXG WEIGHT. ESTIMATING BY MEAS- 
UREMENT. BUYING TO FEED. HOW TO BUY BREEDERS. WHERE GOOD 

BEEF LIES. BUYING FEEDING STOCK. ANALYZING THE CARCASS. 

PROPER SHAPE OF WELL-BRED FATTENING STOCK. HOW TO BUY. BUY- 
ING MILCH COWS. BUYING DAIRY MILKERS. MILK MIRRORS. THE 

TRUE VALUE OF MILK MIRRORS. VALUE OF ESCUTCHEON MARKS. MILK- 
ERS IN ALL BREEDS. HEREDITY. DIGESTION. RESPIRATION. SYM- 
METRY. 

The Value of Good Care. 

There are very many farmers who, by care and attention to details in 
feeding their stock, and by kindly treatment, have done so with profit to 
themselves. They have raised them from calf hood. Let them under- 
take to buy cattle for feeding their surplus grain and fodder, and they 
are very apt to overrate the weight and true value of the cattle purchased. 
One point should always be kept steadily in mind : Never buy an old 
steer or cow for fattening. They never repay the cost and trouble they 
give. Thin cattle, ready for grass, if healthy, may give good returns on. 
flush Summer pasture, if bought at the price per pound that you expect 
to get in the Fall. You will not only get the price of the flesh put on, 
but the c.ittle being thin and the muscles dry, your profits will be added 
to in the fluids absorbed, and the loss will lie with the former owner in 
making mere frames to be built upon. So animals bought in the Fall in 
common grass flesh, will increase wonderfully with good feeding and 
shelter. If you buy at $2.50 per 100 lbs., and so add 200 lbs. inflesh, 
and sell at $4 per 100 lbs., you not only get $8 for the flesh put on, but 
the difference between $2.50 and $4, or $1.50 per 100 lbs. on the orig- 
inal v/cight. That is, you buy steers at 1,000 lbs. each, feed 50 bushel.s 

695 



696 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

of corn per head, and sell them weighing 1,200 lbs. average. They cost 
$25 and sell for $48, leaving $23 as the value of the corn fed and care 
given. The manure in any country will pay for the care taken ; so, your 
corn will have netted you near forty-six cents per bushel. From this, 
knowing the cost and price expected when fat, it will be easy to figure ou 
profits, fluctuations and accidents excepted. 

Estimating Weight. 

An expert judge will estimate from seeing and handling steers often 
within ten pounds of their live weight. The buyer will always underes- 
timate weight, and in nine cases out of ten convince the inexpert owner 
that the guess is right ; in fact, more than half the time the seller will be 
convinced that he has the best of the bargain. The only safe way in 
such cases is for the seller to weigh. Every man who makes a lousiness 
of fattening cattle should own a proper scale. He may save the cost in 
a single year. The merchant, the manufacturer and the builder, who 
work by guess, always end in bankruptcy. The only reason why farmers 
do not, is, they have that generous bank, mother earth, which never fails 
to respond, even to indifferent managers. 

In weighing cattle note carefully why certain ones weigh out of pro- 
portion to others, and study whether the weight is in the prime parts, a 
broad loin and hips, and good barrel, or in heavy fore-quarters, with thick 
neck and big head and horns. Study carefully the points as given in 
detail elsewhere in this book, and as carefully remember them for future 
use. Thus you may in time become yourself an expert judge of stock. 
If an animal is to be killed, estimate his weight alive, how much he will 
shrink in offal and hide. When the quarters are weighed, if the record 
is not as you expect, examine carefully wherein the discrepancy lies. It 
is an especially interesting study for the young man, who expects himself 
to become a breeder and feeder of cattle. If a breeder, he must know 
how to sell ; and if a feeder, he must know both how to buy and sell. 

Estimating by Measurement. 

Many breeders have rules of estimating the weight by measurements. 
There is no rule that comes nearer than good guessing, and all guessing 
should be avoided, especially when the guessing is to lie on the j^art of 
the buyer ; that is, the seller should avoid trusting to the guess of the 
buyer, based upon measurement. No two animals will weigh alike 
according to measurement. 

One rule, perhaps as good as any and for this reason given, is to find 
the superficial feet by multiplying the girth, just behind the shoulder- 



CATTLE, HOW TO BUY AND SELL. 697 

blade, by the length from the fore part of the shoulder-blade to the root 
of the tail. Thus aii ox girthing 7 feet 9 inches and measuring 6 feet in 
length would contain 7 3-4 times 6, or 46 1-2 superlicial feet. For cattle 
grass fat the following is given as the Aveight per superlicial foot : 

Girth 1<'SS than 3 feet 11 pounds. 

" 3 to 5 fuet - 16 " 

" 5 to 7 feet 23 " 

7 to 9 feet 31 " 

Thus the steer as per above measurements should weigh 46.50 by 31, 
or 1,441 lbs. gross. Under this rule it is usual to deduct one pound in 
twenty on half-fatted cattle, from 15 to 20 lbs. on a cow having had 
calves, and if not fat an equal amount. The rule as above stated is of 
little or no value, except to those having no other means. In taking 
account of stock, this may come somewhat near the weight. For buy- 
ing or selling the scale is the only true standard. 

Buying to Peed. 

In buying cattle either to graze or to feed fat, choose cattle that are 
young, that is, that will not have become mature before ready for sale. 
If to be kept a year, three year old past to four year old for natives 
and Devons, and one year less for Short-Horns or Hereford grades. 
Buy no overgrown, leggy animals ; they are hard feeders. Neither 
should they be undersized, as this indicates want of thrift. The cattle 
for money, whatever their breed, are compact, smooth, fine boned, 
meek-eyed, soft haired steers, with skin of medium thickness ; thick 
through the heart, round barreled, well ribbed, with broad rump, and 
the twist well down to the hock. Such cattle, Afhatever their breed, will 
fatten kindly and the meat will be of excellent quality. So far as age is 
concerned, the teeth must be the test. In this no person can err who 
has carefully studied the chart of the teeth in another part of this work. 

How to Buy Breeders. 

If the intention is to raise beef cattle the same rule will apply as in 
buying steers. In no case should the cow be more than three years old, 
and it is better that she never had a calf. In breeding for beef, milk is 
not the first essential. It is necessary, however, that the dam give a fair 
amount of milk, since the proper sustenance of the calf is what lays the 
foundation of the future value of the steer. No calf starved when 
young can make a valuable cow to breed from, and as is the dam so 
naturally will be the produce. Whatever is to be the outcome, avoid at 



698 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



any price a vicious cow, or one with a wild eye or having a dished face. 
Her progeny will be sure to give you trouble, and Avill not give you cattle 
that will fatten to the standard of the picture we give you of Earl 







Spencer's prize ox ; given not only as showing what Short-Horns were 
fifty years ago but as illustrating the terms to be used in describing the 
various beef points and other outward portions of the bullock. 



CATTLE, HOW TO BUY AXD SELL. 60D 

Explanation.— ^1— Forehead. ^— Face. C — Cheek, i) — Muzzle 
C — Neck. F — Neck-vein. G — Shoulder-point. // — Arm. / — 
Gambrel or hock. K — Elbow. L — Brisket, bosom or breast. iV" — 
("rops. C — Loin. P — Hip. Q — Rump. R — Pin-bone. >S'-^Round- 
bone,thurl or whirl. T— Buttock. L^— Thigh, or gasket. F^Flank. 
>r— Plates. X— Back, or chine. F— Throat. Z— Chest. 

Where Good Beef Lies. 

The prime parts of the ox lie, as shown in cut, from iVto 7?,thence to 
S, and back to iV. Between P, ^ and "Fare the primest parts. The 
second best are between M, S, T, V, W, and IT. Between S and U are 
valuable pieces for smoked or dried meat. The ribs between M, and S; 
the flajiks V, W, and thence to the brisket IT are good corning pieces. It 
will be seen that this animal has a verj'^ small proportion of offal, and a 
very large proportion of valuable meat, being full and broad in the loin, 
thick ribbed, with the rump massive, square behind, and canying beef 
below the twist, or junction of the thighs, well down to the hocks. 

Buying eeding Stock. 

The novice in buying stock should carefully note the shape and make 
up. To the, superficial eye the superior aiiimals when thin will appear 
worse than the inferior ones ; the bony parts will appear more prominent, 
and for this reason their breadth, when thin, will seem to be exaggerated ; 
this, however, is only apparently so. An animal of no particular character 
may seem fairly smooth to the eye. Those accustomed to handling stock 
will know that superficial observation goes for little. The touch is what 
decides the value of an animal. The well-bred animal carries softer, 
smoother, and finer hair than the ill-bred one ; its lireadth from the shoul- 
der to the rump gives it a bony appearance when thin, that in the scrub 
steer is partly concealed by the higher backbone and coarser hair. We 
are now speaking of no particular breed, but of all breeds and crosses 
that have characteristic points enabling them to lay on flesh. The scale 
of points for Short-Horns will make a good stud3^ The illustrations of 
fat cattle show what they should be when fat. The picture of the Devon 
ox will show what a good feeder should look like off of good grass, and 
may be taken as the type for our best native cattle. 

A.nalyzing the Carcass. 

In all first-class steers every part of the animal, except the bones, hide, 
tallow, and offal, will be good consumable flesh. The roasts, steaks, and 
corning pieces will be of the best, so that when the four quarters are hung 



700 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



up there will be no loss except bone. Let us now see what such an ox 
as we have shown will give, hi the first place, his quarters will dress 
sixty-five per cent, of his gross weight. The loin above P and from 
thence tp the top of the shoulder above JV will give most superior steak 
and roasting-pieces. The shoulder-point or neck- vein back of 2^ and the 
thigh at S make the best smoking-pieces. The plates TFwill make the 
richest of corned beef, while B, /S', and L (the rump, round and brisket) 
make the best pieces for packing — good thick, juicy meat, and in large 
quantities. In fact such an animal will convert the food he eats into 
good beef, and plenty of it. 

Proper Shape of Well-bred Fattening Stock. 

Cut off the head, neck, legs, and tail, and well-bred beef cattle will 
present the appearance of an oblong square. Thus there is ample room 




OUTLINE OF PRIZE FAT BULLOCKS. 



for the legs and viscera through the width of the bosom and spring of 
the ribs, and this carries corresponding breadth behind, giving a broad 
loin and massive rump. Such an animal will feed heartily and kindly, 
satisfy the butcher when brought to the block, and be profitable to the 
feeder. Above we give four outlines showing animals made very fat, and 



CATTLE, HOAV TO BUY AND SELL. 701 

cut square to show the shape. There is no profit, however, to the feeder 
in cattle fattened to obese or immense weights ; they are mere mountains 
of fat, and contain no more lean meat than animals fattened fairly ripe. 
There are few people who do not like well-fattened beef. Few, however, 
care to eat any but the lean. An animal, therefore, that is fattened just 
ripe is the heaviest in muscle, well marbled with fat. This is what the 
consumer wants, and what the feeder should seek to make. Smooth, fine- 
horned, medium cattle, according to the breed selected, are what give 
profits in this respect. 

How to Buy. 

In buying ordinary (that is native) cattle for pasturing and fee^ang fat 
during the Summer and Fall, always buy in the Spring. If the grass is 
good at the time of purchase, as it should be, no matter how thin the stock, 
if healthy and hearty. The thin stock will weigh less, and you will have 
to pay less for it. The loss will be with the farmer who grudges his 
animals sufficient to eat in Winter, rather than with the buyer. Gener- 
ally all this class will sell cheaper in the Spring than in the Fall, and as 
a rule yearlings may be bought for less money in the Spring than the 
same calves would have brought in the Fall. If they have been fairly 
wintered they will be profitable to feed ; if badly wintered, it will be 
questionable, unless the price paid is low eiipugh to warrant the purchase. 
In any event the feeder must usually depend upon bu3dng steers off of 
common keep. Good feeders are not apt to sell half-groAvn steers, nor 
those that one more season's keep will make ripe. The best money- 
making friends of the sagacious buyer are, after all, those who never 
read, and will not believe that anything in print relating to agriculture in 
any of «its various departments can be of value. They do not know that 
as great advances have been made in agricultural art within the last thirty 
years as in an}^ other industry, and that the best practical talent in 
Europe, and within the last few years in America, have been earnestly 
engaged in elucidating and applying practical science to agriculture. 

In selecting milking cows the following doggerel verses from an old 
English magazine are as true now as when written as to what constitutes 
a cow for both milk and beef : 

She's long in her face, she's fine in her horn, 
She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn ; 
She's clean in her jaws, and full in her chine, 
She's heavy in flank, and wide in her loin. . 

She's broad i n her ribs, and long in her rump ; 
A straight and flat back, without e'er a hump ; 
She's wide in her hips, and calm in her eyes ; 
She's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thigrhs. 



702 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

She's light in lier neck, and suiall in her tail ; 
She's wide in her breast, and g»iod at the pail ; 
She's line in her bone, and silky of skin — 
She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within. 

Buying Milch Cows. 

In selecting cows for milk, or heifers from which to breed milking stock 
the breeder must be guided by the same general principles as in buying 
beef-making steers. That is to say, the animals must be fine, with 
mellow though rather thin skin, and mossy hair ; the head small, but face 
straight and rather long ; the horns should be fine, short, and if some- 
what curved it is a good indication. The eye must be blight and yet 
placid. The barrel, pelvis, rump and thighs should be roomy ; and, for 
obvious reasons, avoid a dish-faced, and especially a wild-eyed cow, or 
one with a dull, heavy eye. The first show^s viciousness, the last stupidity 
— both dangerous and both unprofitable. 

In l)uying for milk, the object being to breed 3'our stock, select heifers 
of three ^^ears old ready to come in, provided the stock bulls were 
suitable ; if not, have nothing to do with them. In this case buy heifers 
of two years old that have never been bred. Then, by attention to 
what we have said upon breeding, you cannot go amiss. 

Buyhig Dairy Milkers. 

When the buyer is selecting co^vs simply to wear out in the dairy, and 
without any reference to retaining or improving the breed, all he has to 
look to is an animal that will give a good flow of milk, and hold the flow 
for a long period. Many cows will start out with large messes, and at 
the end of three months will hardly give enough to keep a calf ^ others 
will continue in milk for six months ; others, again, will continue in milk 
well up to the time for again dropping a calf. These latter are the cows 
to buy. Select them according to the rules heretofore given, and of from 
three to five years old, l^ut not unless they are well along in calf. A 
dairy cow will continue to improve in her milking qualities until she is 
six years old, sometimes until she is seven or eight ; they will continue 
to give ample returns until ten years old, and often until eleven or twelve. 

Milk Mirrors, 

Besides the rules already laid down, there is an infallible sign in the 
milk mirror — or "escutcheon," as it is now called — in cows, heifers, 
calves, and also shoAvn distinctly in the bulls of milking breeds. We 
have studied and bred by it since its first publication in the United States. 
It is the result of years of study by M. Francois Guenon, a practical 



CATTLE, now TO BUY AND SELL. 703 

farmer of Libounie, France, and first reduced to a system in 1822. In 
1828, at a public test and careful examination by the Agricultural Society 
of Bordeaux, the committee made an absolute and exhaustive report, in 
which they used this strong language : " This system toe do not fear to 
say is infallible." 

The society decreed Mr. Guenon a gold medal, made him a member of 
the society, ordered fifty copies of his work, and distributed one thousand 
copies of their full report among all the agricultural societies of France, 

This system was first made known in the United States, if we remem- 
ber aright, between 1838 and 1840, and has been studied, believed, and 
acted on by many practical men ; yet, curiously enough, it has never 
attracted general attention until within the last few years, since which 
time dairying and the breeding of dairy cows has come to be a regular 
profession. While we should not rely entireW upon the many classes 
and their variations, including a .bastard escutcheon to each class, the 
signs as given by the author are most valuable in connection with other 
matters which are given. In the Guenon theory there are twenty-seven 
cuts or diagrams to illustrate his idea, varying from the fullest develop- 
ment in the growth of hair turned upward, to as near nothing, as is ever 
shown in the cow, but all having more or less of this peculiar develop- 
ment of hair on the parts named ; this hair, to indicate a good milker, 
should turn upward, be short, fine and close ; the skin easily raised, and 
with peculiar oval marks and scurf spots. 

The True Value of Milk Mirrors. 

So far as we have studied these signs, we have found them while not 
constant marks by which the quality and flow of milk could be accurately 
judged, yet most valuable in connection with other characteristic signs 
and configurations, which we have given for judging accurately what should 
constitute a good dairy cow. We have found it a most valuable aid in 
judging the milking qualities and time of continuance in milk. That in 
itself it does not constitute an infallible test is no proof of its beinii an 
unsound theory. That it is correct, as a rule, is sufficient to cause it to 
be given careful study and attention . 

We do not hesitate to say that he who will study carefully the illustra- 
tions we give, and the statements made, while he will find many varying 
signs, will not only be convinced of the accuracy of the S3^stem, but will 
be able, either in the cow or calf to select with judgment. The milk sign 
also follows in the bulls as we sh ill show. 

Mr. Charles L. Sharpless, of Pennsylvania, a close observer and good 



704 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

breeder, in relation to tlie value of the escutcheon, as seen in Jersey cattle, 
gives his experience, which Ave condense as follows : 

There is no point in judging a cow so little understood as the escutcheon. 
The conchision of ahnost every one is, that her escutcheon is good, if there be a 
broad band of up-running hair from the udder to the vulva, and around it. 

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 




Fig. 3. Fig. 4. 

milk mirror of jerseys. 



These cows with the broad vertical escutcheon are nearly always parallel 
cows ; that is, with bodies long but not large, and with the under line par- 
allel with the back. Their thighs are thin, and the thigh escutcheon shows 
on the inside of the thigh rather than on its rear. 

Next comes the wedge-shaped cow, with the body shorter but very 
large, deep in the flank, and very capacious. This form does not usually 



CATTLE, now TO BUY AND SELL. 705 

exhibit the vertical escutcheon running up to the vulva, hut with a broader 
thio-h may exhibit a thigh escutcheon, which is preferal)le to the other, 
thus — see Fig. 2. — Milk mirror of Jerseys. 

In both vertical and thigh mirrors, where the hair runs down, intruding 
on the udder (as low as above the dotted lines) as in Figs. 3 and 4, it 
damages the escutcheon. If you find a cow with the hair all running 
down, and between the thighs — ^that is, with no up-running hair — stamp 
her as a cipher for yielding milk. 

There are times when the udder of a cow Avith an escutcheon like Fioj. 
4 will he enlarged by non-milking, for the purpose of deception. It is 
alwa3^s safer to judge by the escutcheon rather than by the large size of 
the udder. 

The escutcheons of the best cows — those yielding the most and con- 
tinuing the longest — will be found to be those which conform to Fig. 2. 

The vertical escutcheon of Fig. 1 would not injure it ; but if that 
ornamental feature has to be at the expense of the thigh escutcheon, Fig. 
2 is best as it is. 

Whenever an escutcheon is accompanied by a curl on each hind-quarter 
of the udder, it indicates a yield of the highest order. 

So far, we have noticed only the rear escutcheon, or that w^hich repre- 
sents the two hind quarters of the udder. The two front quarters are 
just as important, and should be capacious and run well forward under 
the body. If the udder in front be concave, or cut up, indicating small 
capacity, it represents reduced yield. 

This front or level escutcheon is distinctly marked in the young heifer 
or bull, and can be seen by laying the animal on its back. The udder 
hair under the body all runs backward, commencing at the forward line 
of the escutcheon. This dividing line is very perceptible, from the fact 
that the hair in front of it all runs forward towards the head of the 
animal, while the escutcheon, or udder hair, all runs backward, over the 
forward quarters of the udder, around and bej'ond the teats, and ceases 
at the markings of the rear escutcheon on and between the thighs. 

The breadth and extent forward of this front escutcheon indicates the 
capacity, in the mature animal, of the front quarters of her udder. In 
some cases this front escutcheon will be found of twice the extent that it 
]s in others, and is evidence of that much more yield. 

This examination enables one to see the size of the teats and their 
distance apart, and to test the looseness and softness of the udder skin. 
It is marked precisely the same in bulls, and can be easily examined at 
any age between one and ten months • 



706 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Many think that the escutcheon of tlie bull is of little moment, so that 
he has a good look. So far is this from being the case, that a bull with 
a mirror like Fig. 4, or worse, will stamp his escutcheon on, and to that 
extent damage, his daughters out of cows with escutcheons as choice as 
Yis^. 2. In this way the daughters of some of the best cows come very 
ordinary, while, if you use a bull marked like Fig. 2, he will make a 
poor escutcheon better, and will improve the best. His injury or benefit 
will be doubled according to the escutcheon markings under the body in 
front of his scrotum. Hence the importance of the dam of a bull being 
unexceptionable in her udder and escutcheon. Her qualities inherited by 
her son will be transmitted to his daughters. 




GREAT MILK MIRRORS ON HOLSTEIN COW. 



While careful as to escutcheons, we must not neglect the other essential 
features of a good cow — the back, skin, hide, the rich colored skin, and 
the fine bone. Let the hair be soft and thickly set, and let the skin be 
mellow. This latter quality is easily determined by grasping between the 
thumb and forefinger the skin at the rear of the ribs, or the double thick- 
ness at the base of the flank that joins the stifle-joint to the body, or that 
on the inside of the rump-bone at the setting on of the tail. Let the 



CATTLE, I row TO BUY AND SELL. 707 

teats be well apart; let them yield a full and free stream, and be large 
enough without the necessity, in milking, of pulling them between the 
thumb and forefingers. And let us ever keep in mind that the large 
yielder must be well fed. 

Prof. Magne, V. S., of the Veterinary School, Alfort, some thirty 
years ago, as to the relations below the escutcheons and the functions of 
the milky glands, and as differing from M. Guenon in some of the details, 
gives the following explicit information : 

"The direction of the hau' is subordinate to that of the arteries ; when 
a large plate of hair is directed from below, upwards, on the posterior 
face of the udder, and on the twist, it proves that the arteries that sup- 
ply the milky system are large, since they pass backwards beyond it, 
convey much blood, and consequently give activity to its functions. Up- 
per tufts, placed on the sides of the vulva, prove that the arteries of the 
generative organs are strongly developed, reach even to the skin, and 
give great activity to those organs. The consequence is, that after a cow 
is again with calf, it draws off the blood which was flowing to the mUky 
glands, lessens, and even stops the secretions of milk. 

" In the hull, the arteries, corresponding to the mammary arteries of 
the cow, being intended only for coverings of the testicles, are very slightly 
developed; and there, accordingly, the escutcheons are of small extent^ ' 

Value of Escutcheon Marks. 

After the explanation, which accords very well with all that has been 
observed, it is easy to comprehend the value of the escutcheons. The 
more the lower ones are developed, the greater the quantity of milk ; but 
shape is of consequence. 

Still, whatever be the cause of the relations existing between the pro- 
duction of milk and the escutcheons, these marks cannot furnish data so 
fjertain as some have affirmed them to be. 

In fact, the quantity of milk, and its quality, do not depend solely on 
the form and size of the escutcheon ; they depend on the food, the par- 
ticular management, the climate, the season, the temperament, the size 
and energy of the principal internal organs, the capacity of the chest, the 
influence of the generative system, etc. All these circumstances cause 
the quantity of milk to vary, without making any change on the extent 
of the escutcheon ; consequently, it is impossible that the same relation 
can always exist between the escutcheons and the quantities of milk. We 
often see cows equally well shaped, having exactly the same escutcheon, 
and placed under the same hygienic conditions, yet not giving equal quan- 
45 



708 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

tities, or equal qualities of milk. It could not be otherwise. Assuming 
that a given tuft has the same value at birth, it cannot be the same in 
adult age ; since, during life, an infinite number of circumstances occur 
to diversify the activity of the milky glands, without changing the figure 
or size of the tuft. 

Is it not sufficient to refer to the inequality of milk given by the same 
cows, according as they have had one, two, or three calves, in order to 
make clear that M. Guenon has assigned too much value to the mark which 
he has discovered? 

It often happens that two horses, having exactly the same constructure, 
and the same external forms, have not the same energy, the same fitness 
for w^ork. The difference is owing, evidently, to the temperament, and 
the activity of the principal external organs ; in other words, to conditions 
which it is often impossible to estimate by any direct method. 

Now, seeing that temperament has an influence on muscles and bones, 
the action of which, however, is partly mechanical, resembling that of a 
lever, and exerts this influence so powerfully as to render their movements 
unequal in respect both of power and promptness, can we suppose that it 
has no influence on the entirely vital, or, at least, the entirely molecular 
worldng of the mammary gland ? 

It might, therefore, have been argued a priori that the mathematical 
precision assigned to a classification of cows is contrary to the most gen- 
eral laws of physiology ; to propose a mark indicating that a cow will give 
so much milk daily, and for so many days, is to deceive ourselves, or to 
attempt to deceive others : the study of the phenomena of life proves that 
the action of the organs depends not merely on the size and their form, 
but on the general condition of each individual 

We are able not only to oppose argument to the assertion of M. Guenon, 
but we can appeal to the difficulties hitherto experienced in applying his 
classification to practice. M. Guenon has not yet found a single pupil 
worthy of him. And among the thousands of persons who occupy them- 
selves with his method, is there a single one who has acquired sufficient 
skill to justify the claims which the author makes for it? 

It may be affirmed that, to form pupils as sJcillful as himself in judging 
of cows, M. Guenon would not only have to teach them that a certain fig- 
ure for the tuft corresponds to a certain number of pints of milk, but he 
would have, above all, to communicate to them his perspicuity, his talent 
for observation, and his great experience ; he would, in fine, have to fit 
them for estimating, in addition to the direction of the hair of the twist, 
the whole of the marks usually employed in making choice of milch cows. 

All the attempts made on the Guenon method, not excepting those of 



CATTLE, HOW TO BUY AND SELL. 709 

the author himself, prove the soundness of our opinion. The most skill- 
ful, when called to decide on the qualities of cows, whose yield of milk 
was well known, erred seven times on eight cows, and fifteen times on 
twenty-one. And, lest these errors may be attributed to chance, on ac- 
count of the small number of cows submitted for trial, we should mention 
that other estimates proved erroneous 152 times on 174 cows, and 321 
times on 352, and that the error amounted to 921 pints of milk on a total 
of 2,683 pints ; in other words, there was error in regard to almost all 
the cows ; and error amounting on an average, on each, to more than a 
third of the yield. On some individuals the estimates were wrong to the 
extent of from 17 1-2 to 21, and even from 26 to 28 pints a day. 

Such is the truth as to the perfect nicety claimed for the escutcheon 
system. The system cannot do more than furnish an approximate esti- 
mate of the quantity of milk, and that in regard not to all, but only to 
che majority of cows. 

What, then, has led so many persons to put confidence in M. Guenon's 
discovery? The great talents and knowledge of the author. The system 
has obtained the credit due to the experience of him who applied it. 

By his discovery M. Guenon has rendered great service to agriculture ; 
the escutcheon has the advantage of furnishing a mark which can be 
easily discerned, and estimated even by jDersons of no great experience 
in the selection of cows — a mark perceptible on very young animals, and 
on bulls as well as heifers — a mark which, when disencumbered of the 
complicated system in which it has been wrapped up will be in common 
use and facilitate the increase of good cows, by not alio wins: any but 
those of good promise to be reared. 

Milkers in all breeds. 

Professor Magne also gives the following concise directions in relation 
to choosing a good cow, where he says : 

. "We find good milkers in all breeds, but they are rare in some and 
very common in others. It could not be otherwise. Milk properties, 
depending on the conditions which determine the formation of breeds, 
are due partly to the climate, the soil, the air, and the plants of the 
countries where the breeds have originated ; and must therefore vary in 
our different breeds of horned cattle, with the hygienic conditions 
peculiar to each locality. 

"Milkers, and more especially animals intended for breeding, must be 
selected among breeds celebrated for abundance of nn'lk. Not that we 
can hope to import into our department, with a dry and warm climate, 



710 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. ^ 

all the qualities of the excellent milking breeds possessed by countries in 
which the soil is fertile, the air moist, and the sky often cloudy; but as 
the influence of climate, though very marked, takes effect only in the 
long run, the properties of the animals imported are maintained — though 
subject, doubtless, to gradual deterioration — during a period which varies 
with the precaution taken to preserve them ; and for several generations 
the descendants of a good imported breed give more milk than individuals 
belonging to a breed found on the spot, where hygienic circumstances 
are not favoraljlc to milking properties. 

It is not to be forgotten, moreover, that under tlie influence of 
particular circumstances, which it is sometimes impossible to call into 
existence, animals manifest properties which we cannot produce directly. 
This explains why it is often more advantageous to import qualities 
possessed by foreign stock than to try to develop them in native stock. 

As milking qualities are in a great measure dependent on structure and 
temperament, which are more or less hereditary, descent exercises a 
great influence. 

Heredity. 

In each breed, therefore, we should choose individuals belonging to 
the best stocks, and the offspring of parents remarkal)le for their milk- 
ing qualities ; for it is certain that good milch cows produce others which 
resemble them. 

But it is especially necessary when selecting stock for the purpose of 
breeding milch cows, that particular care should be taken to select indi- 
viduals belonging to good families, A cow of a bad milking family, or 
even breed, ma}^ occasionally be an. excellent milker, and more than this 
is not wanted when it is not meant to breed from her. The same cannot 
be said when breeding is intended, because there would be little chance 
of her transmitting the accidental or exceptional qualities possessed by^ 
her ; whereas the qualities forming the fixed and constant characters of 
the stock would almost to a certainty be transmitted to descendants. 

These remarks, with regard to breed and parentage, apply to the selec- 
tion of the bull, which, as experience demonstrates, acts like the cow in 
transmitting the milking qualities which distinguish the breed and stock. 

Digestion. 

The digestive organs have a great influence on the exercise of all the 
functions, and particularly on the secretion of the milk-glands. Where 
the digestive organs are defective, good milch cows are rarely met with. 

•Good digestive organs are known by a belly of moderate size, with 



CATTLE, HOW TO BUY AND SELL. 711 

yielding sides, free from tiirlitness, (in aged animals the belly is often 
large, though the organs whicli it contains are in good condition) ; a large 
mouth, thick and strong lips, a good appetite, easy and quiclv digestion, 
glossy hair, supple skin, yet tirm, and somewhat oily to the touch. An- 
imals possessing these characteristics may be expected to feed and drink 
heavil}' , and, if they are properly fed, make much l)lood, and yield large 
quantities of milk. 

Respiration. 

The respiratory organs complete the system of nutrition. The lungs 
bring the air breathed into contact with the blood, and render the sys- 
tem of nourishment complete. Hence, a good form, quick digestion and 
a healthy condition of the lungs are necessary to the production of a 
large flow of milk. 

Milk V<"ins. 

If the veins which surround the udder are large, winding, and varicose 
(dilated at intervals), they show that the glands receive much blood, and, 
consequently, that their functions are active, and that the milk is abundant. 
The veins on the lateral parts of the belly are most easily observed, and 
all authors decide them to be among the best tests for ascertaining: the 
activity of the glands. 

These veins issue from the udder, in front, and at the outer ans^le, where 
they form, in very good cows, a considerable varicose swelling. Thev 
proceed toward the front part of the body, forming angles, more or less 
distinct, often divide towards their anterior extremity, and sink into the 
body by several openings. 

We can make the size of the milk veins prominent by compressing them 
in their passage, by pressing them at the place where they penetrate into 
the body. If we press the thumb strongly into the opening through which 
the vein passes : the width of the opening represents the diameter of the 
vein, and the thickness of the thumb which stops it, represents the volume 
of blood whose place it occupies. Sometimes the veins are divided. It 
Is then necessary to examine all the openings by which they pass, in or- 
der to form a correct estimate. 

Veins of the Udder and Twist. 

The veins of the udder and twist are able to furnish valuable indica- 
tions. They should, in both cases, be highly developed, large and vari- 
cose ; that is, appear swollen and knotty. The veins of the udder have 



712 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

no definite direction. They present themselves irregularly, with zigzag 
lines, knotted, and more or less oblique. They are never of very large 
size, except in cows that give large quantities of milk. 

The veins of the twist directed from above downward, forming a wind- 
in «• line, interspersed with knots, resemble those of the udder in not 
being visible either in heifers or in cows of only fair milking quality. We 
cannot ascertain their presence in any but very good cows. 

Of all the marks of abundant milk secretion, the best, and in fact the 
only infallible marks, are furnished by the veins of the tAvist and of the 
udder. To estimate them correctly it is necessary to take into account 
the state of the cow in respect to flesh, the thickness of skin, food, ability 
to stand fatigue, heat; all the circumstances, in fact, which cause vari- 
ations in the general state of the circulation, and in the dilation of the 
veins. It is necessary, moreover, to recollect that in both sexes all the 
veins are lai-ger in the old than in the young ; that the veins which encir- 
cle the udder are those Avhich, if the cows are in milk, vary most accord- 
ing to the age of the animal. Small when the animal is young, they 
continue to increase in size until after the cow has had several calves, 
when they come to their full development. 

This proportion between the size of the veins and the milk secreted, is 
observed in all females AA^thout exception. The size of the veins and 
their varicose state being due to the blood attracted by the increased 
activity of the milk-glands, is not only the sign, but also the measure, of 
this activity — this connection. In fact, this connection is so close that, if 
the glands do not give an equal quantity of milk, the larger veins are on 
the side of the udder which gives the largest quantity. 

The length of time during Avhich milk is given corresponds with the 
activity of the organs which supply it. Cows which give most milk a 
day, also give it the longest ; and hence, if no special mark is perceived, 
we can judge much of the duration of milk by the marks which determine 
its quantity. It may therefore be accepted that as a rule an abundant 
milker may be expected to give a long continued flow of milk, 

Judging Age by the Teeth. 

For the reason that the age of cattle can only be approximately judged 
by the horns, and in consequence of the liability to error, and especially 
the doctoring of the horns by the use of the file, sand paper and oil, we 
give a chart, showing from the cuts presented, the ages of cattle, from, 
birth until they are five years old, when the teeth are fully developed, 
and also the appearance of the teeth at ten years of age. Thus at birth, 
it will be seen, there will be but two central teeth, figure 1 ; at two weeks 
it will have four teeth, figure 2 ; at three weeks it will have six teeth, 



CATTLE, IIO^V TO TELL THE AGE. . 713 

figure 3 ; at a month old the jaw will contain eight incisors, and present 
the appearance as \n figure 4. The mouth is then called full, as contain- 
ing the ultimate number of incisors. These are not permanent, but 
temporary, or milk teeth, as thej are called. At six to eight months old 
the central teeth begin to be worn, and show smaller than the others, sec 
figure 5. At ten months absorption and the widening of the jaw will 
have carried the two central teeth still farther away from each other, and 
two other teeth, one on each side, will have begun to diminish, in fact 
will have distinct spaces between them, ^e.^ figure 6. At twelve months 
absorption will have continued to two more teeth, leaving intact only the 
two outside teeth, j^(/iM*e 7. At fifteen months the whole of the teeth 
will present the appearance as seen m. figure 8. At this time the true or 
permanent teeth will have been growing in the jaw, between and back of 
the milk teeth. Figure 9 shows the appearance at fifteen months of age, 
the two permanent central teeth appearing in the place of the two first 
milk teeth which have disappeared, and the other permanent teeth are 
shown in their several stages of growth. Figures 10, 11 and 12 show 
the teeth at two, three and four years past. At the age of five years 
the animal will have a full mouth, as shown in figure 13, and at ten years 
the incisors will present the appearance as m figure 14. 

Thus any person by the use of the chart, and by examination of the teeth 
of cows, of ages known to correspond therewith, may easily become an 
accurate and prompt judge of the age of cattle, up to the age of four 
years. It will be seen, however, that in the four year old mouth, the 
two central pairs of teeth are beginning to be worn down at the edges, 
and in a flat direction, or inclining slightly to the inside ; yet the animal 
has not a full mouth — that is, the incisors are not all fully \i\} until it is 
five years old. ^ee figure 14. 

At five years old the teeth are all fully grown, and the peculiar mark 
on the teeth, called the cup, is shown in all. At the same time all will 
have become flattened, while on the two center ones there begins to be a 
distinct darker line in the middle, bounded by a line of harder bone. 
From this time on we may depend both on the incisors and the grinders. 
At six years old the animal will have acquired the last grinding tooth. 
This is the sixth molar and is, from the beginning, a permanent tooth. 
From this time until the eighth year, and indeed thereafter, in determining 
the age of the animal, the nature of the soil upon which it has been fed 
must be taken into account. Gritty, close fed pastures will wear them 
faster, and flush pastures slower. Thus in all the pasture regions of the 
West, and Southwest, the wear will be light. As a general rule, but 
admitting of many exceptions, at seven years old this line is becoming 
broader and more irregular in all of the teeth ; and a second and broader, 



714 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOIt. 

and more circular mark appears within the center of the former one, the 
most distinct in the central, or two central pairs — and which at eight 
years has spread over the six central incisors. 

At eight years, a change takes place which cannot be mistaken. The 
process of absorption has again commenced in the central incisors ; it is 
slow in progress, and is never carried to the extent seen in the milk teeth, 
but is sufficiently plain, and the two central teeth are evidently smaller 
than their neighbors. A considerable change has also taken place on the 
surface of the teeth ; the two dark marks are worn into one in all but the 
corner teeth. 

At ten the four central incisors are diminished in size, and the mark is 
becoming smaller and fainter, as shown in figure 14. The six central 
incisors are smaller, and at twelve, all of them are very considerably 
diminished ; but not to the same extent as in the young animal. The 
mark is now nearly obliterated, except in the corner teeth, and the inside 
edge is worn down to the gum. 

From this time on they continue to diminish in size, and it is difficult 
to accurately determine the age. In fact except in the case of valuable 
blooded cows, bulls, or extra trained wosk oxen, and occasionally extra 
milkers in the dairy, few steers are now kept in the West past six years 
old, and few cows over nine or ten years of age. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE DAIRY. 



RUSHING INTO NEW INDUSTRIES. THE IMPORTANCE OF DAIRYING. ESTIMA- 
TED PRODUCTION OF BUTTER AND CHEESE. CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO 

DAIRYING. HOW TO BUILD. SUB-EARTH VENTILATION. CARE OF MILK, 

TEMPERATURE. VARIOUS METHODS OF RAISING CREAM. MAKING DAIRY 

BUTTER. SALTING BUTTER. WASHING OR WORKING BUTTER. PACKING 

BUTTER. PREPARING PACKAGES KIND OF SALT TO USE. CHEESE 

MAKING. CHEDDAR CIIEliSE. CHESHIRE CHEESE. HOW TO SELL BUT- 
TER. UTILIZING WASTE PRODUCTS. 

Rushing Into New Industries. 

The impetus given to dairy farming within the last ten years, caused 
by the increasing export demand, and the large price which superior pro- 
ducts both of butter and cheese brought in the markets at home and 
abroad, caused many persons all over the West to rush into the business, 
supposing that flush pastures and cheap grain were the sole conditions of 
success. Unscrupulous persons also made cheese of skimmed milk adul- 
terated with oleo-margarine. Butter makers adulterated their products 
with oleo-margarine, and extensive factories East and West, backed by 
large capital, entered into the manufacture of oleo-margarine ; vast quan- 
tities of which were sold as butter. In addition to this many persons 
supposed it was only necessary to stock their farms with cows, milk them, 
secure the cream, churn it, salt the butter and thus get rich. The result 
was, the markets were glutted with grease butter and skim or grind-stone 
cheese, as they were aptly termed, causing the degradation of really good 
cheese of American make in the English market, for the reason that the 
markets being flooded with dishonest cheese, and the industry being in its 
infancy here, but few makers had established a reputation, considered 

715 



716 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

good beyond doubt in foreign markets. During 1878, especially, the 
price of cheese went so ]ow as to cause much money to be lost in its man- 
ufacture. The consequence was, many, who went into the business hastily 
and witn few natural facilities for the manufacture, or knowledge of the 
business, as hastily went out of it. In 1879 a reaction took place, and 
both butter and cheese during the latter half of the year again paid the 
manufacturers large profits. Tliese variations are not peculiar to this business 
alone, but they belong to every branch. 

The Importance of Dairying. 

Within the last ten years, Ohio, Michigan, the northern half of Indiana 
and Illinois, southern and central Wisconsin, central Iowa, and later some 
portions of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska have become great butter and 
cheese producing States, and the premiums awarded to Wisconsin, Iowa, 
and Illinois for dairy products at International and Inter-State fairs, show 
conclusively that there is plenty of territory in the West, where the con- 
ditions are of the highest order for the manufacture of first class butter 
and cheese. 

As showing the worth and importance of this industry in the West, we 
need only show the receipts and shipments, at two principal markets, 
Chicago and Milwaukee, the first for butter from 1869 to 1878, inclusive, 
and Milwaukee for butter and cheese for the year 1878. That of Chicago 
was as follows : 

Receipts. Shipcients- 

Years. lbs. lbs. 

1S72 14,574,777 11.497.537 

1S73 22.283.765 12,851,303 

1874... 28.743.006 16.020,190 

1875 21,868,991 19,249.081 

1876 33.941,572 34,140,609 

1877 42.236,366 36,514.983 

1878, Aug. 24, 31,714,318 29,263,586 

For the regular butter season — May, June, July and to August 24, 1878, 
inclusive, the receijDts have aggregated 21,414,520 pounds, against 16,- 
493,031 pounds for the same time 1877 — an increase of 4,921,489 pounds. 
The shipments for the same period — May to August 24th inclusive, aggre- 
gated 19,821,660 pounds, again,st 14,495,864 pounds for the corresponding 
time in 1877 — an increase of 5,325,796 pounds. 

In Milwaukee the receipts for 1878 were : 

Receipts of Butter 6.111.286 lbs. 

Shipments of Butter 5.739.041 " 

Receipts of Cheese 13 256.80S '♦ 

Shipments of Cheese 12,865.110 " 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 717 

The exports of butter and cheese from the United States, and value, 
for 1877 and 1878 are given by the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics at 
Washington as follows : 

1S78. 1877. 

Tvvclve mouths ending Dec. 31, butter, lbs 2;),(556.198 23.014.208 

" " *' cheese, Ib.s IhO 249,276 112,567,354 

Estimated Production of Butter and Cheese. 

The value of land and cows in the United States eraploj^ed in furnishino- 
milk, butter, and cheese, is not less than $1,300,000,000, or the sum of 
nearly half the national debt at its highest point. Over three thousand 
factories are engaged in the manufacture of these articles. 

The production of cheese is estimated at 350,000,000 lbs. per annum, 
and of butter about 1,500,000,000; of the former, 130,000,000 lbs. will 
be exported this year, and 25,000,000 lbs. of the latter. The value of 
the two is about $350,000,000 or $50,000,000 more than the wheat crop 
of the countr}^ ; three times more than the oat crop ; four times more 
than the potato crop ; one-seventh more than the hay crop ; one-third 
more than the cotton crop, and but one-fifth less than the corn crop. 
The number of cows in the United States is over 13,000,000, which is 
six times the number in Great Britain, over twice the number in France, 
two and a half times more than in Prussia, and more than in the countries 
of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, 
Russia, Finland, Austria, Hungary and Switzerland combined — althoudi 
these countries together contain four times the population of the United 
States. The proportion of cows to the inhabitants here is twenty-three 
to each one hundred persons. 

The production of cheese and butter increased thirty-three per cent, 
in 1877 and the exports have been in like proportion. 

The cheese and butter exported in 1878 have paid freight to the amount 
of over $1,000,000 to the ocean commerce, or a sum almost sufiicient to 
support a line of ocean steamers. These articles pay to the railroad 
companies over $5,000,000 annually for transportation, and the article of 
milk pays nearly as much more. Loaded on railway cars, ten tons to 
each car, the butter and cheese produced in the United States in one year 
would fill 22,000 cars, and make a compact line 135 miles long. 

It is estimated that Great Britain, with a population of 32,000,000, 
consumes about 260,000,000 pounds of cheese annually, while the United 
States, with 50,000,000 inhabitants, consumes about 200,000,000 pounds 
annually. It is claimed that when only a good quality is put into the 
home market Americans will become as irreat cheese eaters as Eno-lishmen. 



718 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Conditions Necessary for Dairying. 

There arc three natural conditions necessary for the successful prose- 
cution of dairying : abundance of pure water, plenty of grass and chea}) 
o-raiu. There are also three essentials in its manufacture without which 
no person can succeed. These are, good cows, proper buildings and 
fixtures, and absolute cleanliness, from the stable to the package in 
which it is sold. Of course a thorough knowledge of the business must 
be possessed or acquired. If the dairy is conducted on the factory, 
associated, or co-operative sj^stem, only one person, the superintendent, 
need be an expert. Cold Avater is absolutely essential. In the West 
recourse must be had to ice for cooling purposes, except for the family 
dairy, and it is better there. The great drawback to dairying in the West 
has been the absence of cold springs and spring brooks. Deep wells, 
with windmill ]jumps, fully supply this need when there is an abundant 
flow beneath the surface, and when there is not, ice is used for cooling 
purposes. In fact, no hirge dairy, Avhere butter is made, is complete 
without an ice house of sufficient capacity, not only for cooling the milk, 
but also, to afford cold storage for butter. Whatever the size of the 
dairy, whether large or small, no person can make money in the manufac- 
ture without facilities so that the temperature of the milk and butter can 
be kept at 60 degrees or less. It is not our purpose to enter into details 
as to the minutia of dairy work on a large scale. The person under- 
taking the business must employ a competent dairyman as superintendent. 
The owner will have plenty to do in attending to the farm, the business 
details of manufacturing, shipping, selling, etc. To enable those having 
good facilities for the business to get an idea of the building, we give an 
illustration showing ground plan of model creamery. 

The cut given is a model in every respect, not only in arrangement, 
but in cheapness. The main building is two stories, 52 by 2(j feet, with 
two annexes as shown, and cost all told, including all the fixtures and 
apparatus, only $2,500, the building itself costing $1,800. The arrange- 
ments are made with special reference to economy of space, labor and 
travel ; to securing an equable temperature, and to the isolation of the 
cream and butter from odors that may arise in the manufacture or curing 
of cheese. The walls have three air spaces, one between the clapboard- 
ing and sheathing, one between the sheathing and building pai3er, and one 
between the building paper and plastering, thus making most perfect iso- 
lation. The windows are double. The milk, as received and weighed, 
is strained directly into the cheese vats, or into the deep cans, for the 
pool. This is about 20 inches deep, and is made by laying a brick wall 
to that height, and cementing it on the inside. It is supplied with water 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 



719 



from a well near the rear of the building, pipes being so arranged that 
the steam-pump can deliver either hot or cold water or steam where 
needed. Ice is used for this pool as needed. The press-room joins the 
manufacturing-room, and from the door of this a stairway leads to the 
curing-room, which occupies nearly all the second floor ; the front stair- 
wa}^ leading to an office and to a bed-room for the attendant, in front of 
the curing-room, which is designed not only for the cheese made here, 
but as a curing and storing-room for that from several factories in the 
vicinity. The cheese is delivered, as sold, from a door in the rear of the 
curing-room. 




GROUND PLAN OF MODEL CREAMERY. 

Explanation— ^— Milk receiving room. ^—Cheese manufactm-ing room. 
C— Press room. Z>— Engine room. ^_Pool. jP— Cream and churning room. 
G^— Butter working and delivering room, fi— Refrigerator, a «— Cheese vats. 
5— Curd sink, c c— Wash vats, rf rZ— Churns. e—Bultrr worker. /—Boiler. 
g — Engine, li /i— Whey drains. 



720 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

It will be seen that the cream and churiiing-room i^is a separate enclo- 
sure within the main building, and which may be entirely enclosed from 
the main room, so that when the cream is placed it may be entirely iso- 
lated and kept so until churned and stored in the refrigerator. Those 
contemplating erecting a creamery cannot well improve upon this plan, 
one of the most modern known, except it be in some minor details to 
suit local wants . 

How lo Build. 

Where the drainage is good the lower story may Consist of a basement 
sunk three feet into the ground, of stone or brick, and it will be better if 
the whole building be of brick. The system of drainage should be 
mapped out, and a chart made. The drains should be laid in the most 
perfect manner, and with fall enough so they will not clog. Besides the 
factory drains leading to the waste vats, there should also be tile drains 
to carry off surface water. The foundation of the floor of the factory 
should, if possible, have a thin coating of tin shavings, or broken glass, 
say six inches thick well pounded down, and covered with water lime 
cement. Upon this a flooring of flags or bricks may be laid, covered 
with cement of water lime, which in time will become entirely hard, and 
the tin or glass below will prevent all burrowing of rats. The pipes, 
leading to and from the cisterns, etc., should be placed before the floor 
is laid, find the mortar carefully fitted to them. The ice-house should 
be plastered with water-lime, and a little vacancy left between the ice 
and the bottom of the house, to allow the water a small space. The top 
and side walls of the dairy-house should be finished with plaster, by 
which means a uniform temperature, indispensable to curing cheese, is 
more perfectly secured. 

Sub-Earth Ventilation. 

Of late years Mr. J. Wilkinson has advocated a system of sub-earth 
ventilation, simply by a six-inch tile, laid six feet deep and 300 or more 
feet long from the building. Two of this length,— or better, one of twice 
the leno-th, with a wing, and vane connected with the out-door end, to 
catch air and convey it to the tile — will keep the basement well ventilated, 
and of the earth temperature of the depth at which the tile is laid. 

Care of Milk. I 

The first requisite is absolute and unqualified cleanliness. We have 
already given directions as to cleaning animals before milking. The least 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 721 

slovenliness in the help, in this respect, should be severely reprimanded, 
«and if this does not avail, discharge him, or her, at once ; it is as necessary 
as kind treatment of the cows. 

If the milk is set in shallow pans, see that there is good ventilation to 
the dairy rooms, and that the pans are regularly scalded, and with hot, 
bubbling water — slight scalding will not do. Wipe dry, and sun, when 
possible. Allow no bad odors to accumulate near by from garbage or 
other causes. For this reason the family dairy should never be in the 
house, since the steam and odor from cooking, the dust from sweeping, 
etc., will taint the milk, cream and butter. English dairy women are 
many of them so particular that they will not allow the men who carry 
the milk from the yard to enter the dairy house. It is poured into a re- 
ceiver outside and conducted in through a pipe, regularly scalded each 
time used, and covered tight from dust. 

Modern Home Dairies. 

One plan of setting milk is by the "Hardin sj^stem." By this system 
the milk is strained, immediately after being drawn, into deep pails and 
covered with a well-fitting lid, to exclude both air and water. It is then 
placed in a refrigerator, with ice above it. The drippings fall upon the 
pails of milk and form a pool of w^ater, in which they are allowed to stand. 

When a cold spring of running water can be had the milk may be im- 
mersed in deep open pails, in the cool waters. Unfortunately, in the 
West, springs are scarce. 

Another excellent plan for small dairies is that known as the Cooley 
system, setting the milk in deep cans ; a medium sized refrigerator box, 
containing space enough for from ten to twenty cows. These cans have 
close fitting covers, and are surrounded by ice cold water, and thus, if the 
heat and animal odor be expelled before putting in, there is no tainting 
or souring. The cream is taken perfectly sweet, in from twelve to 
twenty-four hours. It is very compact, and may be economically used 
even in small family dairies, of from ten to twenty cows, if the farmer 
cares to pay the royalty, the system being patented. 

Animal Odor. 

Expelling the animal odor is most important. To do this the, milk is 
poured into a receiver, in the bottom of which are a few small holes, 
through which the milk is allowed to drop into a tank, large enough and 
high enough to catch all without spattering. This tank stands in cold 
water nearly to its brim ; in this the milk may remain about fifteen min- 



722 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

utes, when it may be set in any of the ways we have mentioned. An- 
other plan is to heat the milk to 100 or 110 degrees and then allow it slowly 
to cool. 

Temperature. 

Good butter can be made, if the temperature of the dairy-room does 
not go above 60 degrees. This is the proper temperature for churning 
and working the butter. The temperature for milk may be nmch lower ; 
it should not be higher from the time the milk is brought in until the 
butter is carried away. So far as storing the butter is concerned, if the 
temperature be kept at 40 degrees, so much the better. This, however, 
cannot be done without ice. 

Various Methods of Raising Cream. 

G. C. Caldwell, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, in Cornell Uni- 
versity, located at Ithaca, N. Y., in relation to some European methods, 
says: 

"Among the different systems prevalent in Europe, w^e notice the 
Dutch method in which the milk is cooled down to 60 degrees in a water 
tank, which requires usually from one and a half to two hours, and the 
milk is then set to the depth of four or five inches in a room where the 
temperature ranges from 54 to 60 degrees, and remains about twenty- 
four hours ; the Holstein method, in which the milk is set at about the 
same temperature, without being first cooled in water, to the depth of 
one and one-half to two and one-half inches ; the Devonshire method, 
described as long ago as 1784, w^here the milk is put in a cool room, 
standing at a depth not greater than from three to four inches for twelve 
hours ; the vessel containing it is then set over the fire and heated till 
blisters begin to appear in the cream, or to about 200 degrees, when it is 
set aside again for twelve hours ; the cream is very firm in consistency 
and can be made into butter by simple kneading, and has a sweet, pleas- 
ant taste. Mueller states that the skimmed milk does not retain more 
than one per cent, of cream ; the Gussander method makes no account 
of temperature, except that it shall not exceed 61 degrees, so that no milk 
cellar or but only a light, dry and airy room is required ; the milk is put 
in large shallow pans, filling them to the depth no more than from one to 
one and one-half inches ; the milk is skimmed after twenty-three hours , 
in such a thin layer the milk is so well aerated that it remains sweet to 
the end, and the cream is sweet and very rich in fat." 

These varions experiences should be very suggestive. 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 723 

Making Dairy Butter. 

Mr. C. C. Buell, one of the makers of high-caste dairy butter in the 
West, stated his mode as reported by the Secretary of the Illinois Dairy- 
man's Association : 

"Cows were common stock — Durham gi'ades and sprinkling of Jersey. 
Fed by running in fresh corn stalks during day time, on timothy and clo- 
ver at night ; in stable, with two messes of meal daily, consisting, by 
measure, of two parts corn and one part oats, together with the greater 
pait of the sour milk and buttermilk from the dairy room. Number of 
cows, forty. I'he milk was strained through an iron strainer into deep 
pails, as soon as drawn, standing in open air until the milking was fin- 
ished. It was then strained again into the same pails through a double 
thickness cloth strainer. The milk was set in a room without fire, tem- 
perature being between 40 and 50 degrees, Fahrenheit. During a 
part of the time, the temperature being above 50 degrees, the milk was 
set in water for twelve hours. The milk was skimmed after standinsT 
twelve to forty-eight hours, it being considered desirable to mix the 
newer and older cream, for the sake of flavor ; but the whole stood mixed, 
together from two to four hours after the last skimming and during the 
process of warming to proper temperature for churning. Most of the 
milk was skimmed a second time, the cream beinsr included in succeedinir 
churning. The churn (a dash churn with solid dasher, surface under 
neath concave), was started at a temperature of 62 degrees ; as the but- 
termilk began to appear a couple of gallons of tolerably strong brine was. 
added at a temperature of 58 degrees, and the churn stopped a moment 
afterward, — as with the addition of the brine, at the proper temperature,. 
the butter separates very rapidly. As much brine as necessary was used 
in washing down sides of churn, cover and dasher. The butter was then 
dipped into a bath of not more than two gallons of brine ; a churning of 
forty or fifty pounds being washed in four parts, in the same brine. Re- 
moved to a worker with rolling lever ; the butter was so handled as to 
mix with the proper amount of salt with the least working possible. It 
was then placed in a tub slightly packed, covered with brine and allowed 
to stand three or four hours, when it was again placed on the worker, 
lightly worked and packed for market." 

Care of Milk. 

We have given the modes of some of the best butter-makers in the 
world. Now the principal points to be observed arc : warm shelter, per- 
fect quiet, for the animals, absolute cleanliness in all operations connected 
46 



724 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

With the milk, from the time it is drawn until it is made into butter. 
Just as the butter is forming in little granules, suddenly reduce tho tem- 
perature to 56 or 58 degrees, so the butter will not mass together. It 
should never take less than half an hour to churn ; quicker churning 
car ses the butter to come salvy. 

Coloring Butter. 

The best coloring for butter is plenty of succulent grass in Summer, 
and rich feed in Winter. For home consumiDtion we should never color 
butter. For sale it may be advisable. If so, use any of the pure prep- 
arations of annotto. It is perfectly harmless. If used, stir it in the 
cream. As to quantity, this cannot be stated. It will vary with the 
season. Every person must experiment, only do not use too much. 

Salting Butter. 

Take the butter from the churn in its granular state, and salt at the 
rate of two-thirds of an ounce to the pound of butter. Do not work it 
more than enough to fairly distribute the salt ; and this by folding and 
pressing; let the grains of salt dissolve. It may stand from 12 to 24 
hours before being worked the last time. Butter, through all the time 
and process of working, from the time it is churned until packed, should 
be kept in a pliable, waxy condition, about 60 degrees Farenheit is right, 
so as to work easil}^ and the salt all the time be in a dissolving condition. 
It is utterl}'^ impossible to work butter well that is operated upon while 
either too warm or too cold, or that is allowed to become so between 
times of working. The benefit derived by standing after the first salting, 
awaiting the second worldng, is to dissolve the salt by the moisture in 
the butter, and so set the butter-milk free, that it nuiy be the more easily 
pressed out. The amount should not be more than will dissolve entirely, 
and this moisture should be well worked out before adding more. After 
this add salt sufficient to season to your taste, working to mix it evenly 
through the butter ; then leave it there to cure and preserve. 

A good average is about one ounce of salt to a pound of butter ; some 
tastes prefer less and some more. Three-fourths of an ounce to the 
pound is light salting, while one and one-fourth ounces to the pound is 
heavy salting. We use to the first salting just two-thirds of the amount, 
and after the second working add the balance. Never go by guess, but 
use the scales, and in this Avay insure uniformity. No one can acquire a 
reputation for good butter, who does not make a uniform article. It 
never yet was made by guessing. If on a churning of butter you guess 



CATTLE, DAIRYING, 725 

it three pounds less than it is, and on the salt three ounces more than 
it is, you will make it far too salt. There should be a slight allowance of 
salt made for the condition of the butter, for when it comes soft it 
. usually contains more butter-milk than when it comes hard, and a greater 
percentage of the salt will be carried off in the extra whey. 

Washing vs. Working. 

Equally good results can be obtained by washing or working the milk 
from butter, when skillfully done under favorable circumstances. In 
either case the only object is to free the butter from the milk, with as little 
injury to the flavor or grain of the butter as possible. In washing butter, 
the danger is mostly in injuring the flavor by introducing foreign matter 
in the water, w^hile in the other case, there is more danger in over-working 
and so injuring the grain. In localities where pure water cannot be ob- 
tained, washing should not be resorted to, for butter is always sure to 
take up the impurities contained, as it will the taint of any decaying veg- 
etable or animal matter that may be near. Many wells and springs which 
the owners of, or users from, believe to be pure and good, have in them 
decaying substances which render them entirely unfit for any use, much 
less to wash butter with. Decaying organic matter so introduced into 
butter acts very much like yeast in dough ; at least, it starts a fermenta- 
tion, so to speak, which sooii destroys the butter. Allow no surface water 
to get into spring or well, or any filth to remain in them, and if they are 
not highly charged with lime, mineral or salts of any kind, there is no 
better or easier method than to wash the milk out quickly and thoroughly 
before salting. 

Packing Butter. 

If for sale pack in good, strong, oak packages, whatever the size that 
may be decided on, and let them be uniform, clean, and nice looking. A 
good package will not sell poor butter, but a slovenly package will often 
condemn the best. Never use the round wooden boxes, with handles, 
they are an abomination. In packing have the butter still at 60 degrees, 
it is then firm and yet not hard. First rub the package, bottom and sides, 
with salt, just what will adhere. Put a quantity of butter in the middle 
of the package, and press down firmly — do not rub, but press, thus caus- 
ing a perpendicular and lateral pressure ; thus you make all firm and exclude 
air. Then what brine remains in the butter will work to the sides and 
with the salt prevent it from sticking to the wood. So continue until the 
butter is within an inch of the top. Lay on a cloth cut half an inch larger 



726 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

than the package, and wet with brine, working the edges down smooth, 
cover with a quarter inch of salt, cut another cloth an inch larger than 
the package, lay this on the salt, working smooth, as before. Head tight, 
bore a small hole through the head, fill full with brine, cork tight, and if" 
kept level, and the butter has been properly made, it will come out all 
right when wanted. 

Preparing^ Packages. 

Use nothing but white oak ; scrub them thoroughly inside and out 
with hot water and a clean brush ; fill with clean, pure water ; let them 
stand forty-eight hours in a cool i)lace ; turn out, scrub again with hot 
water, rinse thoroughly with cold water, and, while wet, sprinkle with 
salt, what will adhere. It is then ready for use. 

What Kind of Salt to Use. 

None but absolutely pure dairy salt should be used. So far as the 
manufacture is concerned there seems little to choose between the best 
American or English make. There is one thing about English goods, if 
warranted good they are so — ^laws against adulteration being very strict 
in England while they are very lax in the United States. At a butter 
test some years ago before a committee of experts to decide if it could 
be discovered whether the samples were salted with English or American 
salt, the committee were very much at sea, guessing sometimes one way 
and sometimes another. Price being equal, we should use the best 
English dairy salt. Yet in all the best dairy salt, Avhether English or 
American, the impurities are so slight that in the salting of either 
butter or cheese there could be no taste whatever. If the impurity be 
sulphate of lime it would amount to nothing. It requires 400 times its 
weight to dissolve it, and there is almost no moisture in good butter. 
Another impurity is sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom Salts) which if 
present in sufiicient quantity would give butter a peculiar but not a bad 
taste. Chloride of calcium would give butter a sharp, pungent taste. 
and which Avould seriously depreciate the value both of the butter and 
cheese in which it was used. 

Cheese M king. 

The maki,ng of butter is both chemical and mechanical. It has this 
advantage, that any person can make butter as good as tlie best if abso- 
lute cleanliness is used ; if there are no foul odors about the premises ; if 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 727 

the temperature of the dairy be kept equal, and if pure water be used. 
This is all that is required, besides attention to a few simple rules. 
These we have given, and there leave the subject. 

The making of cheese depends almost entirely upon chemical action. 
Unless the conditions are right, good and uniform cheese cannot be made 
These conditions can hardly be obtained in a farm house. Hence cheese 
so made is never uniform, excej)t in rare instances now and then in the 
hands of a perfect cheese maker. Such, if this strikes their view, 
should lose no time in building a factory, or engaging one already built. 
Hence it would be a waste of space to enter into the details of cheese 
making even in a general way. Yet many will want to make some cheese 
and we append an account of the process of some celebrated English 
brands from the pen of Mr. John Chalmers Morton, of England, who 
has written upon the subject in the following concise yet comprehensive 
manner ; 

Cheddar Cheese. 

" The Cheddar cheese shall be described as it was carried on upon the 
farm of the late Mr. Harding, of Marksbury, Somersetshire, who wah 
one of the best makers in England, and who did good work for cheese- 
making in Ayrshire and other counties and districts which he and Mrs. 
Hardinsr visited on the invitation of agricultural societies and others for 
the purpose of giving instruction in the manufacture of this kind of 
cheese. 

"The morning's and evening's milk are together brought to a temper- 
ature of 80 degrees Fahr. If the night has been warm, a temperature 
of 78 degrees will give as great effectiveness to a given quantity of 
rennet as one of 82 or 84 dog. would give if the milk had been at a 
lower temperature for some hours of a cold night. The evening's milk 
having been placed in shallow vessels during the night to cool, and having 
been stirred at intervals during the evening is skimmed in the mornino:, 
and the cream, with a portion of the milk, is heated up to 100 deg. by 
floating it in tin vessels on the boiler. The whole of it is then poured 
through a proper sieve into the tub — into which the morning's milk is 
being also strained as it arrives — so as to raise the whole, as I have said, 
to from 78 to 82 deg. Fahr. This tub may be a large tin vessel, capable 
of holding 150 gallons, and provided with false bottom and sides, 
enabling hot or cold water to be passed under and around its contents. 
The rennet, made from two or three dozen veils, in as many quarts of 
salt water, and allowed to stand three weeks, is added — half a pint to 
100 gallons — and the curd sets in about half an hour. The small veils of 



728 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Irish calves, which are killed at about a week old, are preferred, and they 
should be eighteen months old before use. The curd is slowly cut with a 
single long blade to and fro throughout its depth, in lines forming a 4-inch 
mesh upon the surface, and the whole mass is gently turned over from 
the bottom with a skimming dish and the hand. The whole is then again 
worked throughout with a "shovel breaker," a four-lingered paddle with 
wires across the fingers — great care being taken to do it gently, so that 
the whey shall not become too white. The curd is thus broken up into 
pieces not much larger than peas, and at least half an hour is taken in 
the process. Hot water is then let into the space around and below the 
cheese tub, and the whole is raised to 100 deg. Fahr. ; and this, too, is 
done gradually, so as to raise the whole by degrees, not heating any 
portion to excess. This also takes half an hour. The hot water is then 
drawn off, and the curd is stirred by the hand and a skimming dish for 
another half hour in the midst of its hot whey, being at last reduced to 
a mass of separate bits the size of small peas. The whey, after settling 
for half an hour, is then removed — ladled, syphoned, or drawn — to its 
vat, where it stands about six inches deep, and is skimmed next day, 
yielding a butter, which should not exceed in quantity six to eight ounces 
per cow per week. 

The curd stands half an hour after the whey is drawn off, and it is then 
cut in four or five pieces, turned over and left for half an hour, after which 
it is again cut and left for a quarter of an hour. After this, it should be 
in the slisrhtest degree acid to the taste. If allowed to become too acid, 
it will not press into a solid, well-shaped cheese, but will be apt to sink 
broad misshapen. It is now torn into jDieces by hand and left to cool ; 
and thereafter it is packed in successive thin layers in the vat — a cylindrical 
or wooden vessel twelve inches or more wide and twelve inches deep — 
whence, after being pressed for half an hour, it is taken out (it is then 
probably midday,) and broken up by hand, and allowed again to cool. 
Then, when cool, and hard, and sour, and dry, and tough enough, (all 
this, of course, being left to the judgment of the maker), it is ground up 
in the curd mill ; two pounds of salt are added to the cwt. of curd, and 
the whole is allowed to cool, and as soon as cold, it is put in the vat, and 
taken to press. It is then probably 3 p. m. The pressure on the cheese 
may be 18 cwt. The cloth is changed next morning. A calico coating is 
laced on it the second day, and the third day the cheese may be taken 
from the press, placed in the cheese room, bandaged, and turned daily, 
and afterwards less frequently. The cheese room should be kept at nearly 
65 degrees Fahr. The cheese will not be ready for sale for three months. 
. The process lasts nearly all the day, but it is believed to produce the 
best cheese in the world ; and its use is everywhere extending. Taking 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 729 

its name from a single parish, it now prevails all over North Somerset- 
shire, and is gradually extending into Wiltshire. Many dairies in 
Gloucestershire adopt the system ; and some of its characteristic details 
are followed in Cheshire ; and it is well known in Lancashire, Ayrshire, 
and Galloway. 

The Cheddar cheese is made of various sizes, generally twelve inches 
wide and a foot high, but sometimes larger in both dimentions, and from 
70 to 100 pounds in weight ; the object being to make all the milk of one 
day on a farm of thirty to forty cows into a single cheese. 

Cheshire Cheese. 

Cheshire cheese, like the Cheddar, is made only once a day. The 
evening's milk is placed, not more than six to seven inches deep, in tin 
vessels to cool during the night, on the floor of the dairy ; it is skimmed 
in the morning, and a certain portion is kept for butter — in early Summer, 
only enough, perhaps, for the use of the house, but in Autumn more, and 
in some dairies at least, nearly all the morning's cream is thus taken for 
churning. The skimmed cream, with a portion of milk, is heated up to 
130 deg. Fahr. by floating the tins which hold it, on the boiler — sufficient 
quantity being taken to raise the whole of the evening's and morning's 
milk together to 90 deg. or thereabouts. The rennet is made the day 
before it is used ; 12 or 14 square inches of "veil" (rennet skin) standing 
in a pint of salt water, kept in a warm place, making rennet enough for 
100 gallons of milk. The Irish veil (rennet skin) is used, as it is obtained 
from very young and milk-fed calves. 

The curd is set about 50 minutes ; it is then cut with the usual curd- 
breaker, a sieve-shaped cutter, very slowly. The whey is syphoned, 
pumped, or lifted out as soon as possible ; but before it is all removed a 
portion is (on some farms where the Cheddar system is followed), heated 
and returned to the tub, and the curd is left in this hot whey for half an 
hour. The whey is then drained away and the curd is left to get firm. 
When firm enough to stand on the hand in cubes of about a pound weight 
— this is an intelligent indication — without breaking asunder, it is lifted 
out on the drainer (a false bottom of rods), in a long tub with a stop-cock 
to it, and there left covered up for 45 minutes, after which it is broken 
up and well mixed with the hand with 3 1-2 to 4 1-2 lbs. of salt per cwt. 
It is then allowed to stand with a light weight upon it for about three- 
quarters of an hour longer, and is turned over once or twice during the 
time, being cut for the purpose into squares with a knife. It is then twice 
passed through the curd mill, and at length put into the vat, a cloth being 
first pressed into place by a tin hoop, and the salted curd being packed 



730 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

gently by hand within it. The vats will hold a cheese of 70 or 80 up to 
100 lbs; and tin hoops, placed within them, are used to eke them out, 
and give capacity for a larger quantity of curd if necessary. After stand- 
ing in the vat, with a weight upon it, from one to two hours, according 
to the weather, it is turned over and put, still in its vat, into the oven, — 
a warm chamber in or near the brickwork of the dairy chimney — where it 
remains at a temperature of 90 deg. to 100 deg. during the night. Both 
when in the press and here the cheese is skewered, skewers being thrust 
into it through holes in the vat and every now and then Avithdrawn, so as 
to facilitate the drainage of the whey. The cheese is taken out of the 
vat in the morning and turned upside down in a fresh cloth. It is in the 
press three days, and it is turned in the press twice a day, being dry- 
clothed each time. It is then taken out dry-clothed, bandaged, and re- 
moved to the cheese room, where it is turned daily, and at length only 
occasionally, until it is ready for sale. In some dairies all skewering is 
dispensed with, and no pressure is used at the time of making, nor for 
two days afterwards, but the whey is allowed to run out of its own accord. 
Cheese manufactured in this way requires from 5 to 7 days in drying, but 
afterwards matures more quickly for market. 

The cheese varies considerably in quality throughout the year, the 
earlier make of March and April being considerably less valuable than 
that of Summer and early Autumn. Some of this varying quality is 
owing to the quality of the milk, the cows being house-fed ; but more of 
it is, in all probability, owing to the necessity of holding a portioai of 
curd over from day to day, when the quantity is insufficient to make even 
one, or it may be two, full-sized cheeses daily. In such cases it is com- 
mon to make one full-sized cheese, and hold the remainder of the curd 
over till the next day, keeping it wrapped up on the drainer or pan, and 
grinding it up in the curd-mill along with the curd of the next morning. 

How to Sell Butter. 

There is never any difficulty in selling good butter at a liberal price in 
any market, however low grease butter may be. The maker of prime 
butter need never be in a hurry to sell. The butter once made, will 
KEEP. But it vnll not be necessary to keep it. There are always partic- 
ular people in every town, however small, who are ready to take good 
butter at good prices. Thus it is usual for makers to contract to supply 
during the year at a stipulated price. During the flush season of grass, 
butter is packed down, to be drawn on when needed. Thus the manu- 
facturer always has a supply on hand, and the customer is more than satis- 
fied to have a good, sweet lump of butter on his table every day in the 



CATTLE, DAIRYING. 731 

year, and does not grudge the extra five cents above whut he would have 
to pay the grocer, for what those who do not know the difference might 
suppose was good. 

If a hirger quantity is made than will supply the family trade of the 
village, the large markets are always open, and there good butter will 
always bring a good price. All that is wanted to know is that the butter 
is made by one whose reputation is established and who would not sell a 
bad article, and all that can be made will be eagerly taken. It is simply 
a question of cleanliness, attractive package, careful attention to the de- 
tails in making, and as careful a determination never to ship when there 
is dangei- of the thermometer going below 60 degrees. The rest is all 
plain, clear sailing, with large profits accruing. To insure large profits 
from dairying, the master must be about early and late, night and day, 
and Sundays as Avell. 

Utilizing Waste Products. 

The skim milk, buttermilk, and whey, must be fed either to calves or 
hogs. As far as whey is concerned, there is not much good in it for the 
nourishment of calves, unless it be supplemented largely with meal and 
oil-cake. A shoat will fatten on the waste products of the dair}^ one to 
each cow, by using a very little corn. Some dairymen prefer to feed the 
waste to the cows. This is probably not the best use to which it could 
be put. Slvim milk and buttermilk is worth more to feed to calves, we 
believe, than disjDOsed of in any other way. Here again we will give the 
experience of Mr. I. H. "VYanzer, of Illinois, who believes with us that to 
make dairying permanently profitable, the raising of dairy cows must be 
a part of the business. To close the chapter we jippend his statement : 

I tried the experiment, last season (1875), of raising calves u^Don the 
skimmed milk from my creamery ; and as the result of this experiment 
may interest some of you, I will give you a few figures kept in connec- 
tion with the experiment, from which you may draw conclusions as to 
whether it pays to raise calves in connection with a creamery or not. 

Number of calves put in, 120. at; $4.00 each $ 4S0 00 

Number of gallons of milk f.Hl, 67,200, at 1 l-2c. per gallon 1.008 00 

Oats fed, 840 bushels, at 30c 252 00 

Cost of labor in feeding 255 00 

Pasturage, stabling, etc lOO 00 

Total $2,005 00 

These calves sold at an average of $21.50 each, at an average of seven 

months old 2,580 00 

Leaving a profit of. $485 00 



732 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

This amount passed to the credit of the milk would bring it up to two 
cents per gallon, which is equal to six cents per pound for cheese, and 
this kind of cheese would not have brought three cents per pound at the 
season I fed it, for it will be remembered that this milk set thirty-six to 
forty-eight hours, and all the cream was taken out. 

I am so much encouraged in this way of raising calves that I expect to 
stock again the coming season. I have now fifty-five young calves and 
ten older ones. Many of my neighbors and patrons are bringing their 
best heifer calves to me, and marldng them, expecting to bid them in at 
my sale next Fall, I paying the market price for them when received 



PART IV. 
Diseases of Cattle; 

THEIK CAUSES AND PEEVENTIOK ; HOW TO KNOW 
THEM; WHAT TO DO. 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



THEIB CAUSES; HOW TO KNOW THEM; WHAT TO DO. 



CHAPTER I. 



Diseases in General— Recognising and Distinguishing lliem. 

FARMBES SHOULD UNDERSTAND SYMPTOMS. OF DTSEASKS IN GENERAL, USE 

COMMON SENSE. GRADUATION OF DOSES. FREQUENCY OF ADMINISTER- 
ING. FORMS OF DOSES. HOW TO GIVE MFiDIClNE. INJECTIONS. • 

VAPORS, SPRAYING AND FUMIGATION. ANESTHETICS. TO DEPRIVE OP 

SENSATION. BLISTERING. FIRING. SETONS. ROWELS. SEWING 

UP WOUNDS. FOMENTATIONS. OPERATION OF BLEEDING. RECOGNIZ- 
ING AND DISTINGUISHING DISEASES. THE PULSE. THE BREATHING. 

THE ANIMAL HEAT. THE SKIN AND HAIR. —THE POSTURE. INDICA- 
TIONS OF PAIN. SPECIAL SIGNS IN CATTLE. 

Introductory. 

The immense value of the stock interests of the United States and the 
frequent outbreak of introduced contagious plagues, and of enzootic, 
epizootic and various epidemic diseases, that at intervals have visited 
localities or swept over Avhole continents, would seem to call for special 
training in veterinary science and art in every agricultural college in the 
United States ; yet, until within the last few years, but little attention 
has been paid to this profession, and to-day the subject is not given that 
attention its importance demands, except in a few instances. Veterinary 
surgery has heretofore been flippantly termed "horse doctoring" by 
professors and heads of too many of the colleges, endowed with the 
people's money "to teach such branches as relate to agriculture and the 
mechanic arts." 



736 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Of late, however, a more enlightened course has been pursued. Many 
of the agricultural colleges are paying attention to this important stud}-, 
especially since the violent outbreak of splenic fever over the West and 
East from the introduction of Texas cattle, and still more lately from 
the outbreak and spread of contagious pleuro-pneumonia in a number of 
the Atlantic States. Owing to the low state of veterinary science gen- 
erally, and the disdain with which the few highly educated and thoroughly 
scientific investigators in the United States — mostly French and Gernuin 
graduates — have been looked down upon by those who should have been 
too gla^ to welcome them to the profession of medicine, and the esteem 
in which mere quacks and leeches have been regarded by the community two 
notable facts are made patent : First, the exclusiveness of certain puffed 
up " college Dons," who suppose that all knowledge must come from 
classic sources. Second, that the people at large, farmers and stock 
raisers, who from their habits and training could not be supposed to 
understand surgery or medicine, except in its simplest forms, have been 
thrown into the clutches of mere pretenders to anatomical knowledge 
and the treatment of diseases. Of late there have been many honorable 
exceptions, until now nearly or quite all of these people's colleges, forced 
thus in many instances by public outcry, are taking strong means to 
foster veterinary science, and make it what it should be, and really long 
has been in other enlightened countries, an important, as it is an honorable 
branch of human science. 

There are many valuable works extant in various languages, upon 
veterinary science and practice. They will be of little value to farmers 
and stockmen ; all that this class can deal with must necessarily be only 
those symptoms that can readily be discerned, and remedies so simple in 
their nature that they can be easily procured and applied. In fact great 
care and attention should be given to first symptoms, as also to good 
nursing. Discard all strong physics, and heroic treatment by purging, 
bleeding, and the surgery of main strength. Good care and nursing in 
the treatment of animals is now regarded (as it is in the treatment of 
human patients) as among the most important means of cure. Indeed 
with animals it is of the greatest importii^ce, since brutes are only able 
to indicate the region of pain and disease by mute signs, entirely unin- 
telligible in the majority of cases to the ordinary observer. 

Of Diseases in General. 

In the description of symptoms, and the treatment of diseases, it 
would be out of place here to go into learned discussions on the nature 
and pathology of diseases ; so also it would be futile to dilate upon the 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 737 

symptoms and treatment of diseases. Only those most common, or 
fatal, will be specially noted. Fortunately veterinary art is congenial 
with the medical treatment of the human family, and the same paths that 
lead to a knowledge of human diseases will indicate to any intelligent 
local physician the means to be used with brutes. Humane physicians, 
now-a-days, — to their credit be it said, — are not slow in coming to the 
relief of the farmer and stockman in prescribing and giving advice in the 
absence of regular veterinary surgeons. Such are veritable benefactors, 
inasmuch as they greatly alleviate distress and do much to discourage 
quackery ; and when found, they should be freely consulted- This devi- 
ation from the regular medical practice, owing to the sparsely settled 
nature of many portions of the country, seems very necessary and 
even imperative. 

In the prescriptions for cattle, we shall use the most simple formulas 
possible, wherever found, and whatever simple medicines will avail, 
especially those compounded of herbs, as better adapted to the treatment 
of domestic animals. In connection with these, other agents, both min- 
eral and mechanical, must be employed. In short, what we have aimed 
at is to state symptoms and remedies for such diseases as may be treated 
without the advice of a regular veterinary surgeon, and in such language 
as any intelligent person may understand. 

In this, while we shall not attempt originality, except it may be in the 
matter of presentation in some instances, we shall use and quote from the 
very latest authorities in veterinary science in the United States, Eng- 
land, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Italy, and 
other minor countries, Avhere veterinarj^ science has been accorded that 
respectability which should accrue to a labor having for its aims the sav- 
ing of life, and the amelioration of suffering, in a direction second in 
importance only to that of the human family ; and in preventing loss, so 
far as it may be possible, of live stock, the raising of which is of greater 
importance to mankind than any other single human industry. Thus, in 
presenting symptoms, we shall use and quote freely from the latest works 
in reformed practice. What we present will not be as seeking so much 
to aid the veterinary practitioner, as the farmer himself ; not a work to 
supersede otlier authorities, but a substitute, in a limited sense, as to the 
treatment of certain diseases, so that the intelligent reader may compre- 
hend ; advising, in every case, when the operator does not understand 
the symptoms clearly, to seek the advice of the professional veterinarian, 
if such may be had. If such be not within reach, then consult the best 
physician in the neighborhoocl. Diseases are substantially the same in 
causes, symptoms and treatment, whether men or beasts be their subjects. 
Remembering this may suggest a helpful course of treatment in many cases. 



738 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Use Common Sense. 

Why, in the sickness of animals, the owner should try random remedies, 
and go from one to another, at the suggestion of each different adviser, 
as the matter may seem to strike them, is inexplicable. In nine cases 
out of ten, with proper nursing and care the animal will recover, simply 
by keeping the bowels moderately open by mild physics and injections 
(which Y/ill be indicated) when costiveness and impaction is present; or 
by sedatives, stimulants and astringents when the reverse condition is 
exhibited. 

Such conditions as are often fatal during the gravid state of female 
animals, and succeeding delivery, abortion, false presentation, etc., and 
the means of relief; contagious and epidemic diseases — these from their 
special importance will receive due' prominence. Of the non-contagious 
and local diseases every farmer should seek to make himself familiar 
with the symptoms, so that ready raeaus may be used for the relief of 
suffering animals. 

In all this detection and treatment the operator must be guided by 
intelligence and use the least possible exhibition offeree. It may be necessary 
to hamper an animal for the performance of some operation. When 
necessary, it is not merciful to use half-way measures. The humane man, 
liowever, will do so with as little pain to the animal as possible. If necessity 
should require killing as the best means of dealing with the ailment, the 
humane man will be actuated by no sentimentality about taking the life of an 
animal. He will kill promptly and surely, as the best means of alleviating 
the suffering of the animal, or of preventing the spread of infectious and 
contagious diseases. Prompt measures under these conditions will often save 
the loss of many lives. 

Graduation of Doses. 

As a rule cattle require one and a half times as much as horses ; sheep 
and pigs require one-third as much. Professor James Law, of Cornell 
University, in his work, Veterinary Adviser^ has presented the manner 
of graduation, frequency, and form of administering doses, in the 
following concise language ; 

The doses given may be held applicable to full-grown animals of 
medium size, therefore some alloAvance must be made in any cases in 
which the patient exceeds or comes short of the average of his kind. A 
similar modification must be made as regards young animals, not only on 
account of their smaller size but also of their greater susceptibility. The 
following table may serve as a guide : 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 



■39 



TABLE OP DOSES FOR DIFFERENT ANIMALS. 



Horses, etc 


Cattle. 


Sheep. 


Swine. | 




3 years. 


2 years. 


1 -2 years. 


15 months. 


1 part. 


1 1-4—3 years. 


1-2 " 


9-18 months. 


8-15 " 


1-2 part. 


9-18 months. 


6-12 months. 


5-9 


6-8 " 


1-4 " 


5-9 


3-6 


3-5 


3-6 " 


1-8 ' 


1-6 


1-? 


1-3 " 


1-3 " 


1-16 ' 



Allowance must also be made for a nervous temperament, which usually 
rsnders an animal m re impressibls ; for habit, or continued use, which 
tends to decrease the susceptibility for individual drugs ; for idiosyncrasy, 
which can cniy be discovered by observing the action of the agent on the 
particular subject, and for the influence of disease when that is likely to 
affect the action. Thus, in most diseases of the brain and spinal cord, 
and in some impactions of the stomach, double the usual quantities of 
purgative medicine will be necessary : while in influenza, and other low 
fevers, half the usual doses may prove fatal. In acute c ngestion of the 
brain, stimulating narcotics (opium, belladonna, hyoscyannus) would 
aggravate the symptoms, etc. 

Frequency of Administering. 

Anodynes, antispasmodics, narcotics, sedatives, and stimulants, may 
generally be repeated once in four or six hours in order to maintain their 
effect. Alteratives, diaphoretics, febrifuges, refrigerants, and tonics, 
may be administered twice daily. Purgatives should only be given when 
necessary, and should never be repeated until from the lapse of time we 
are assured that the first dose remains inoperative. Thus, unless in urgent 
need, a horse should not take a second dose of physic under thirty-six 
hours after the exhibition of the first ; and in all cases, until the medicine 
has worked off, he should be kept at rest and allowed only warm bran 
mashes and water A\ith the chill taken off. In ruminants a second dose 
may be ventured on in twelve or sixteen hours, and in carnivora (dogs, 
etc.) and omnivora (swine, etc,) in from seven to ten hours. Emetics 
should be given in full doses, and repeated in five or ten minutes if they 
fail to take effect, their action being further provoked by copious draughts 
of tepid water and tickling the roof of the mouth with a feather. 



Forms of Doses. 

Drugs may often be given as powder or solution in the food or water ; 

they may be made into a soft solid with syrup and linseed meal, rolled 

into a short cylinder and covered vnth soft paper ; they may be converted 

into an infusion with warm or cold water, or into a decoction by boiling ; 
47 



740 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

or they may be powdered and suspended in thick gruel or mucilage. 
They may be given, in a liquid form, from a horn or bottle; or, as a 
short cylinder or pill, which may be lodged over the middle of the root 
of the tongue ; or, as a sticky mass, they may be smeared on the back 
of the tongue ; may be given as an injection into the rectum ; or, finally, 
in the case of certain powerful and non-irritating agents, they may be 
injected under the skin. 

No agent should be given until sufficiently diluted to prevent irritation, 
if retained a few minutes in the mouth, and irritants that will not mix 
with water (oil of turpentine, Croton oil, etc.,) should be given in a bland 
oil, in milk, or in eggs after being thoroughly mixed. 

How to Give Medicine. 

Few things are so awkwardly done, as a rule, as giving medicine to 
farm animals. In the hands of a careful and expert person, a strong 
glass bottle is good. A better instrument is a flattened bottle of block 
tin, which for cattle should hold two quarts. The most usual instrument, 
and on the whole the best for ordinary operations, is the horn. Select 
one of which the point turns down and the large end up ; form this of the 
proper size and fashion so the opening will be oblique. 

Drenches should always be thoroughly mixed, and well shaken before 
they are given. If a fit of coughing ensues, free the animal at once and 
until it be ended. In operating with cattle do not irritate the animal un- 
duly. Always operate from the right or off side. Pass the left hand 
over the head, and in front of the horn, seize the upper jaw firmly in 
front of the grinders, turn the head firmly l)ack, the operator standing 
well braced, the back firm against, and as well forward of the shoulders 
as possible. Thus having the animal with one side against a wall, or the 
side of the stall, it must be a very vicious cow or bull that a strong, expert 
man cannot handle. If, however, the operator does not stand well for- 
ward and well braced, he may be severely kicked, since an ox, like a 
deer, can reach well forward Avitli their hind feet. The usual quantity 
for an ox is from one to two quarts at a dose, if liquid, of ordinary de- 
coctions and solutions. 

Injections, or Clysters. 

A large number of medicines, both liquid and solid, may be as easily 
administered per rectum as by the mouth. In administering injections, 
it is not necessary that mucli pressure be used. The intestinal canal of 
animals is lower than the opening. Thus fluid substances will fall by 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 



741 



their gravity. A good instrument for use may be a pail, with a tube 
extending from the bottom connecting witli a half-inch rubber hose, of 
suitable length, so that the pail may hang just high enough above the 
animal to be out of their reach in moving about. Oil the end to be in- 
serted into the rectum, and the fluid may be passed into the gut, as much 
or as little as may be desired, and with much better effect than when 
strong pressure is brought to bear on the fluid. 

When solid substances are administered per rectum, they are called 
suppositories. They are often useful and simple, as in the case of a 
small cylinder of soap, for young calves, to encourage the action of the 
bowels and ducts : and in the case of cows, in the use of disinfectants, 
to purify the discharges and lessen the danger of puerperal fever; sup- 
positories are made into form by means of soap, starch, lard, etc. 

Vapors, Spraying and Fumigation. 

These are medicaments drawn in with the breath. Chloroform and 
ether may be administered by means of a sponge filled with the agent and 




APPLICATION OF STEAM TO THE NOSTRILS. 

held to the nose. Vapors are easily produced from liquid substances by 
means of an atomizer, sold by all druggists. 

Steaming is often of great benefit. Hot water, either plain or medi- 
cated, may be held under the animal's nose, and the steam strongly 
driven off by plunging a hot iron into it at intervals. A hot bran mash, 
in a nose bag, readily gives off steam. Abetter form for steaming the 
nostrils would be that given above. 



742 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



For the promotion of discharge of the nostrils, the nose-bag will be 
indicated ; its form and fastenings are shown in the annexed cut. 

Powders for easing the expulsion 
of the secretions of the nostrils, or 
for local application to diseases of the 
inner surface of the nose, may be a 
simple tube of tin in two parts, which 
may be taken apart and put together 
like the joints of a stove-pipe, with a 
rubber tube on one end and a mouth- 
piece on the other. Charge with the 
powder, and blow with sufficient force 
to carry the agent where wanted. 

When an anaesthetic is used, it 
should not be held to the nose contin- 
uously, since, if undiluted with air, 
it is fatal. Watch carefully and sus- 
pend the use of the ansesthetic as soon as unconsciousness is pro- 
duced, to be renewed from time to time as may be necessary. They 
should not be used unless under the advice of a surgeon or physician, 
since the need can hardly be expected except for the performance of 
some intricate surgical operation. The following is endorsed by high 
veterinary authority : 




NOSE BAG FOR STEAMING. 



No 1. 



1 Oz. alcohol, 

2 Oz. chloroform, 

3 Oz. ether. 



Shake the bottle well before using it ; pour a teaspoonful or more at a 
time on a sponge ; hold it to the nostrils. Two or three moments should 
be enough to overpower the strongest ox. 



Blistering. 

Blistering is a valuable remedy, when it is required to ease the absorp- 
tion of deposit, to stimulate the vessels to eifect organic change, as 
hastening the ripening of an abscess, or the reduction of an enlarged gland ; 
they should be entirely confined to cases where the acute inflammatory 
symptoms have ceased. Blisters do no good in deep-seated inflammations. 
Yet the quack, if he suspect internal inflammation, claps on a blister, 
which only agonizes the dumb brute, and generally leaves a permanent 
blemish. When a blister is found necessary, before applying, always as 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 743 

an ointment or fluid, and never as a plaster, cut or shave the hair from 
the part, wash and dry thoroughly, and apply with strong friction for 
several minutes. The following, if thoroughly applied, will raise a blister, 
and will not leave a blemish : 

No. 2. 1 Oz. Powdered Cantharides, 

12 Oz. Lard heated to 212 deg. Fahr. 
Mix well together and stir uutil cool. 

A sweating blister of medium strength to be used to produce irritation 
and a watery discharge without raising a full blister, and which may be 
applied separately to the same spot and without removing the hair, is 
made as follows : 

No. 3. 1 Oz. Powdered Cantharides, 

1 Pt. Alcohol. 

Add neither corrosive sublimate, arsenic, acids, nor turpentine to blis- 
tering agents. They are not useful, are often injurious, and always give 
unnecessary pain. 

As a rule, sufficient irritation can be produced on cattle by mustard and 
hot water, well rubbed in, and this form should be used except in partic- 
ular cases. The following rules should be carefully remembered : 

1. — Never blister more than one or two spots at the same time. 

2. — Be careful about blistering in hot weather. 

3. — Never blister an inflamed part when there are symptoms of 
mortification . 

4. — There is always danger of producing strangury in horses from 
blistering. 

5. — ^W^hen a blister causes great nervous irritability, loss of appetite, 
or difficult urination, wash the blistered surface with strong soapsuds of 
soft soap, dress it with sweet oil, and give a full dose of opium. 

6. — The second day after a blister has been applied, foment the part 
with warm water, and dress it with lard or oil. 

7. — ^An animal that has been blistered should be prevented from biting, 
rubbing, or otherwise irritating the blistered part. 

Firing. 

The actual cautery is most valuable in bone diseases, or chronic lameness. 
In certain diseases it cannot be successfully replaced by any other counter- 
irritant. The iron should l)e at a full red or white heat, and used with a 
light hand, so that a distinct impression is made. More than one leg 



744 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

should not be operated on at one time. It should never be performed by 
inexpert hands. The hair must be closely shaved, and the animal securely 
fastened. A better way for the novice is to cut a piece of bacon rind 
with some of the fat attached. The iron, which should be flat or slightly 
hollowed, is to be heated to a dull red heat. Place the bacon rind on the 
sprain or tumor, and apply the iron firmly for two or three minutes, and 
afterwards more lightly, until the rind is dried or burned. This may be 
repeated at intervals of two or three days. The influence will be potent, 
and will leave no scar. It should never be used on cattle, except in the 
case of a tumor, where the animal is valuable. 

Setons. 

Setons are used in cases of bone diseases, in the healing of old fistulas, 
by producing a new and healthy inflammation in its sides. They should 
be inserted the whole length of the canal. 

Setons are composed of tapes, threads, or fine wires, pushed just 
underneath the skin by means of a seton needle, entering at one point 
and coming out at another. Fasten the ends, to prevent dropping out, 
smear with irritant salve and turn every day or two to keep up a constant 
irritation and discharge. The following will be found good ointments 
for smearing the setons : 

No. 4. 1 Part powdered cantliarides, 

8 Parts oil of turpentine, 
8 Parts Canada balsam. 

Put the two first in a bottle and keep warm for two days and add the 
balsam 

A simple ointment would be ; 

No. 6. 3 Parts citrine ointment, 

1 Part oil of turpentine. 
Mix. 

Rowels. 

These are wounds made with rowel scissors or a bistoury, and kept 
open with a pledget of tow or other substance, smeared with ointment, as 
used for setons. They are rarely used now by good surgeons, and are 
not to be recommended, since their action is that of the seton. 

Sewing up Wounds. 

The bleeding of wounds having been checked and properly cleaned, 
the edges are brought together and held in position by means of stitches 



1 
1 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 745 

or sutures. The interrupted suture is made by carrying a suture needle 
armed with white silk or white linen thread, through the two edges of 
the wound and cutting off, leaVing about three-inch ends on each side of 
the cut ; bring together and tie. So proceed until you have the wound 
nicely closed, the lips of the wound or sKin being carefully brought 
together. 

, The twisted suture is better in inexpert hands when it can be used. 
Bring the edges of the wound together, pass a strong pin through to 
hold in place, and twist a fine wire or lace a strong thread across the 
protruding ends of the pin to hold the edges of the wound firmly 
together. So proceed at intervals of three-eights of an inch until the 
wound is closed. 

The wound thus sewed, dress with a plaster or ointment and bandage 
to prevent threads or pins from being torn out. Remove them as soon 
as the surfaces have united, which should be in four or five days. 

Fomentations. 

These are applied by wrapping the part to be treated with flannel 
bandages or woolen cloths, and keep the wrappings constantly wet with 
hot or cold water, or mixed with any appropriate addition as vinegar, 
laudanum, etc. They are used to cleanse or soothe irritable wounds, to 
reduce internal inflammation, or relieve external inflammation. Unless 
persistently used for hours and kept constantly wet, the}^ had better nut 
be attempted. After the operation is finished, rub dry and clothe warmly, 
to prevent chill, which will surely occur. As an additional precaution, 
a little mustard rubbed in would be beneficial. When it can be applied, 
a sheepskin with the wool on, wrung out of hot water, makes a good 
agent for fomentation. 

The Operation of Bleeding. 

There is no operation in veterinary practice that has been more abused 
by quacks and other persons ignorant of the true necessity, than bleed- 
ing. It should never be performed except by those who have been 
instructed in the operation, and only in those cases where by common 
consent of the profession it is allowed. If a decided impression is to be 
made, as in apoplexy, from five to seven quarts should be taken from an 
ox, according to the conditions. If the jugular vein is pressed upon just 
below where the incision is to be made, it will soon show prominently. 
Use a thumb lancet in preference to a fleam. When sufficient has been 
taken, raise the two lips of the wound, and bring them together between 



746 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOE. 

the thumb and finger, pass a common small pin through the edges and 
weave thread across and over to keep all in place. 

Becognizing and Distinguishing Diseases. 

The following explicit and detailed rules for recognizing diseases in an- 
imals, should be carefully studied : Anyone who would become expert in 
recognizing diseases in animals, must study them carefully in the healthy 
state, and make himself thoroughly familiar with their habits, appearance 
and general physiology. He must practice feeling their pulse and the 
heart, listening to the sounds of their lungs in breathing, and taking their 
temperature, by feeling the skin and also by using a properly constructed 
thermometer. He should watch the appearances of the eye and tongue, 
and note the positions assumed when asleep and awake. He should ob- 
serve the character and frequency of their appetite. For it is in the 
variations from health in these particulars that the veterinarian discovers 
the guides which lead him to the recognition of the particular disease he 
has to treat. We will examine each of these items separately, and assure 
our readers that if they wnll verify our statements by practice on the liv- 
ing animals, they will soon be in a position to take charge of them when 
sick, quite as well and often a great deal better than the average farrier, 
as he is to be found in this country. 

The Pulse. 

The pulse differs very much in the domestic animals. In the full 
grown horse at rest, its beats are about forty per minute ; in the ox from 
fifty to fifty-five ; and in the sheep and pig, about as in man, that is, 
averaging sevent}^ to eighty beats in the minute. In calves and colts, 
and in animals well advanced in years, the pulse increases, in health, to 
about twice these figures ; and it is also increased by hot, close stables, 
full feeding, and the condition of pregnancy. 

The pulse may be felt wherever a considerable artery passes over a 
bone. It is usually examined in the horse on the cord which runs over 
the bone of the lower jaw, just in front of its curved portion ; or on the 
bony ridge extending upward from the eye, or inside the elbow. In cattle 
conveniently reached over the middle of the first rib, or beneath the tail. 
There is a marked difference of force in the pulse of the two species ; 
that of the horse being full and rather tense, while in the ox it is soft 
and rolling. 

When the pulse differs materially from these conditions in any direc- 
tion, it is a sign of disease. If rapid, full and hard, there is high fever 



CATTLE, THEIK DISEASES. 747 

or acute inflammation ; if rapid, small and weak there is low fever, loss 
of blood, or weakness. If very slow we may suspect brain disease ; if 
irregular, now fast and in a few seconds slow, we should look for a 
diseased condition of the heart. 

In the sheep, the pulse if felt by placing the hand on the left side, 
where the beatings of the heart can be felt ; or at about the middle of 
the inside of the thigh, where the femoral artery passes obliquely across 
the bone. 

The Breathing. 

The breathing is next in importance. If the ear is applied to the throat 
of a healthy horse or ox the air will be heard passing through the 
windpipe with a regular, steady, blowing sound ; if applied to the chest 
a soft rustling murmur will be heard, like a gentle breeze in the tree 
tops, caused by the air passing in and out of the fine tubes and vessels 
of the lungs. But where the lung or throat is diseased, these sounds are 
very much changed and in many directions, which it is not necessary to 
dwell on here, but which will at once indicate the presence of something 
amiss with these important organs. 

If the forefinger of the the left hand is placed firmly on the chest and 
smartly tapped with the ends of the three first fingers of the right hand, 
the sound will be noticed to be more resonant and clear than when the 
same procedure is practiced on the solid thigh. This is because the lungs 
are not solid, but are always in health well expanded with air! But in 
various diseases, as pneumonia and pleurisy, the}^ fill up with fluid and 
becom,e solid, then the sound given out, by thus percussing them, as 
it is called, is like that on any other solid part of the animal. Hence 
this is another very important indication of disease. 

By practice on healthy animals the character and boundaries of these 
sounds can be learned so closely that any variation from them will be at 
once detected, and will sometimes reveal the presence of an unsound 
condition when nothing else will. 

The rapidity with which the act of breathing is performed can easily 
be counted by the heaving of the chest. In health in the adult horse at 
rest it is from eight to twelve times a minute, and in the ox a little faster. 
Any great increase without obvious cause, is a positive sign of diseased 
condition. 

The Animal Heat. 
The temperature of animals can be ascertained, to a slight extent, by 



748 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



the feel of the skin, the ears, and the legs. A hot, dry skin in a horse 
generally accompanies a feverish condition. Cold ears and legs are a 
sign of serious disease. But the only scientific, that is, accurate plan, is 
to use what is called a "clinical thermometer ;" that is, one, the bulb of 
which can be bared and inserted into the rectum. After it has remained 
there two or three minutes, the mercury will accurately indicate the tem- 
perature of the blood. This in health is 98 degrees, and any deviation 
■from this, even of a few degrees, is a certain sign of disease. Those vet- 
erinarians who have practiced sufficiently with this instrument to become 
skilled in its use, declare it invaluable in their business, as affording tliem 
grounds* for opinions about diseases which no other symptoms could. 

Thus it has been found that every disease has its own degree, a tem- 
perature at which it is either favorable or fatal. For example, if in that 
sometimes prevalent epidemic among horses, cerebro-spinal meningitis, 
the thermometer rises as high as 104 degrees, it is a certain indication 
that the horse will shortly die ; while in such a disease as inflammation of 
the lungs, the mercury will register 108 degrees, or 109 degrees, and the 
horse recover. If in gastric or typhoid fever the heat has been 103 de- 
grees, and falls to 100 degrees, and then suddenh^ rises again to its previous 
figure, the chances are terribly against the patient, no matter what the 
other appearances may seem to say. These few examples will serve to 
show how valuable the instrument may become in the hands of an intelli- 
gent person. 

The Skin and Hair. 



The skin in its general feeling and appearance is an important guide to 
the condition of an animal. A dry, scurfy appearance is a system of in- 
digestion, and liability to joint affections. What is called "hide bound" 
is a symptom of a general state of poor nutrition, arising from indiges- 
tion, improper food, worms, or a want of proper exercise. The skin 
feels stretched and hard, as if too small for the body. The condition 
known as "staring coat," when the hairs stand out like bristles, is often 
the only symptom of a low state of health. Whenever an animal is dis- 
posed to shiver, with shedding of the coat, when exposed to moderate 
cold, or without such exposure, it is on the edge of some disease. A 
persistently staring coat, without other symptoms of disease, often indi- 
cates the approach of an attack of farcy or glanders ; and when with this 
are repeated shivers or chills, we may expect the strangles, weed, or other 
diseases with suppuration. When in an attack of disease the skin becomes 
covered with a cold sweat, the life of the animal is in great danger. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 749 

The Posture. ' 

The position of an animal, its mode of standing and lying down, are all 
sio-nificant. Lying persistently on one side, or obstinately maintaining one 
position, shows that any other is painful. Horses stand as long as they 
possibly can, as they breathe much easier in the upright position ; and if 
they once lie down, they soon despair and die. Hence the rule is with a 
horse to slino- him up, in various ailments. With cattle it is different, 
and it is much less important to keep them erect. When animals cannot 
rise, it may be from weakness, or from palsied limbs, or from severe 
injuries or sprains. 

Indication of Pain. 

The feelinj of pain in animals is indicated by tbeir flinching when the 
painful part is touched ; by the care which they take in lying down, walk- 
ino- or standing to "favor" the part, and by the appearance of the eye. 
Distress and suffering are generally plainly apparent in the face of sick 
horses and cattle. 

Special Signs in Cattle. 

In cattle, the horn at its root yields, by the sensation it imparts to the 
hand, a rough idea of the temperature of the blood, and the cow-leecli 
generally feels it as the doctor does the pulse, as a part of the indispens- 
able programme of a professional visit. If the temperature is natural, 
he concludes there is no fever ; if cold, and the tips of the ears also cold, 
it is a sign of some serious internal congestion ; the blood no longer cir- 
culatins: in natural force through the. extremities. 

The muzzle is another part he takes note of. In health this is moist, 
covered with "dew," as the saying is ; but in disease, especially fever, it 
is dry, hotter or colder than natural, and sometimes changed in color, 
paler or injected with blood. By looking at the flanks, the regularity of 
the respiration is noted, rapid and irregular heaving there betra3dng the 
disturbance of the important function of breathing. In ruminants also, 
the second mastication of the food is among the first of the vital pro- 
cesses to become disturbed in disease. When a cow or an ox "loses the 
cud," as it is called by herdsmen, that is, ceases, to ruminate without 
apparent cause, there is sure to be a feeling of sickness about the animal- 
which is thus interfering with one of its processes of digestion. No animal 
can thrive in this condition, it needs attention. 



CHAPTER n. 



GESTATION, DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS THEREOF. 



PLURAL AND MDLTIPLE GESTATION. TREATMENT DURIN» GESTATION. BIRTH. 

PROLONGED LABOR. LARGE PRESENTATION. UNNATURAL POSITIONS 

OF THE CALF. FLOODING. PRESENTATION OP AFTER-BIRTH. INVER- 
SION OP THE WOMB. LANGUID LABOR. IRRITABILITY AND STRAINING. 

TEMPORARY PARALYSIS. ABORTION. ISOLATION. MILK FEVER. MAMMITIS. 

TREATMENT OF CALVES. 

Plural and Multiple Gestation. 

Fleming, in his work on Veterinary Obstetrics, gives a lucid and accurate 
account of single, plural, and multiple gestation in animals. 

Among the domestic animals there are species which are naturally uni- 
parous — ^produce only one at a birth ; and others which, in a normal or 
physiological manner, bring forth two, three, or more, at a time, and are 
therefore designated gemelliparous or multiparous gestation, being known 
as double, triple, quadruple, &c. 

It is seldom that twins are produced by the larger domesticated animals, 
and particularly by the mare and ass, though instances are recorded of 
these ; while in the cow, sheep, and goat, the occurrence of twins, triplets, 
or even more young creatures at a birth, are not so scarce. 

The causes of multiparity are not well ascertained. It may be due to 
simultaneous ripening of two or more Graafian vesicles, which, rupturing 
at the same time, allow the escape of the ovules they contain, and which 
may become impregnated at a single coitus. Or a Graafian vesicle may 
contain two or more ovules, as Brischoff has witnessed in women ; and 
these arriving together in the uterus, may be fecundated at one time. Or 
it may even happen that the vitelline membrane contains two yolks, as 
sometimes occurs in the fowl's egg ; and as the vitelline mass is the essen- 

750 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 751 

tial part of the egg, it is evident that when this contains two of these 
masses, they ought, if fecundated, to produce two embryos. 

In the first case, as Saint Cyr points out, each foetus has ordinarily all 
its annexes distinct and completely independent ; or it may be that the 
two charions are fused together, in which circumstance the two foetuses 
^Wll then have a common envelope. In the second hypothesis, this fusion 
of the charions appears to be the rule, although the envelopes may also 
be independent ; and in the third case — that of the two vitelluses contained 
in the same vitelline membrane — not only the envelopes but also the 
foetuses may become united more or less' closely and thus give rise to 
double monsters. 

Finally, it is also possible that two ovules may become detached from 
the ovarian cluster, though not simultaneously, but successively, and be 
fecundated, one after another, at two successive copulations within a 
brief period. Occurrences of this kind are by no means rare, yet have 
been wrongly adduced as instances of superfoetution. 

"What to Do During Gestation. 

As a rule the cow should be dried about the sixth or seventh month 
when stock breeding is the object. When milk and not calves is the 
object the flow may be continued to within six weeks of calving. 

Grazing should always be allowed as much as possible, the exercise 
and grass both being favorable to healthy gestation. In Winter the food 
given should be nutritive, easy of digestion, cooling, and of such quality 
as not to induce either constipation or undue laxity. W^ater should be 
especially pure and plentiful, and not excessively cold ; in fact, all frozen 
food is to be avoided. Cleanliness is essential. Harsh or cruel treat- 
ment, running by dogs, all danger of fright must be avoided. Surgical 
operations and severe medication is to be avoided, especially drastics. 
Suitable diet is to be used as a regulator of the bowels ; powerful 
flarcotics, sedatives, and other strong physics, if they do not impair the 
dam may imperil the life of the foetus. The veterinary anomalies in 
gestation are fully treated in Fleming's work on Veterinary Obstetrics, 
to which we are indebted for much valuable information. 

Births. 

As a rule in natural parturition there is nothing gained by undue haste. 
The animal should have quiet and be left to itself so long as everything 
is going on tolerably well. In the majority of cases nature will assist 
herself to a safe delivery. A roomy stall, in Winter well warmed, should 



762 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

be provided with rather thin but compact bedding. In Summer, or other 
mild weather, let the cow be out-of-doors by all means ; in a small grass 
lot is best. 

Prolonged Labor. , 

When the labor is prolonged from excessive size of the foetus, and 
this is suspected beforehand, or if time do not press and there is no 
special excitement in the cow, and there is delay in the descent of the 
calf, oil the hand and arm and feel for -the neck of the womb in the 
vagina. If it be rigid carry extract of belladonna up the vagina and 
smear the neck of the womb for a few times. This should cause relax- 
ation of the parts. If the time is passing carry a narrow-bladed, 
blunt-pointed knife in the hand in the vagina ; find the mouth of the 
womb with the forefinger, slip the knife along the finger until it enters 
the neck of the womb about a quarter of an inch, and make a slight 
cut in all four sides of the neck by turning the knife. A slight nicking 
will suffice, since the mouth once loosened in its contraction, the neck 
will give way, and the bag of water will accomplish the rest. The utmost 
care is needed in such work, however. 

Large Presentation. 

Sometimes the calf is so large that the muscular efforts of the cow 
can not force the mass forward. In this case do not resort to strong 
means until all others fail. Let a small-handed man introduce both 
hands, well oiled, up the vagina, carefully working forward beside the 
calf, gradually pressing apart the orifice ; pass closely to the calf with 
the hands, and as the pains commence, pull forward as strongly by 
pressure against the fcetus. When a main effort is made pull forward, 
and at the same time slip the hands slowly back, and the calf will often 
follow. Eepeat this again and again as the pains are renewed. We 
have never failed in but one case in so delivering the calf, and in this 
case the calf had to be dissected in the body. This no person unskilled 
in surgery should attempt. 

Unnatural Positions of the Calf. 

These are various, and, except in the six cases we mention, and in the 
order of their frequency, resort should be had to a veterinary surgeon. 
The following manner of relief is endorsed by various reliable and well- 
known authorities : 

Unnatural Positions of the calf.— The natural position of the calf on 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 753 

its exit from the "vvonib, is with its head and fore-feet first, the head be- 
tween the feet and the back upwards. Six unnatural positions are 
enumerated by writers, which demand the assistance of the surgeon. We 
give them in the order of their frequency, with the appropriate treatment 
they require. 

First — Position with tail first. Press the haunches back with the palm 
of the hand, take hold of the bend of the hough of one leg, pull at it and 
reach the foot ; seize the other foot in the same manner, bring them forth 
and deliver the body. 

Second — Position with fore-feet appcainng Avithout the head. Push the 
feet back until the head can be seized either by the jaw or nose, and pull 
it down between the feet. No further aid will be required. This needs 
a long arm, and prompt action between the pains. 

Third — Position with belly upward, head over one shoulder, fore-legs 
first. Gently push the calf back between the pains, and bring the head 
down between the legs. 

Fourth — Fore-feet first, with head under the l)risket. Push the calf 
back, find the head, and draw it down between tlie fore-feet. 

Fifth — Head alone, or only one fore-foot with it. Pusli the calf back 
and search for the fore-feet, or foot, under the belly ; when found, bring 
forward one at a time, by placing the hand under the knee and using 
gentle pressure. 

Sixth — Belly upwards, the fore-legs folded and against the mother's 
back, the head, side or hind-leg appearing. If the hind-leg appear, put 
it back ; seek for the head, and if jiossible turn the calf, to bring the 
fore-feet and head to the mouth. When this fails, throw the cow, put 
her oil her back, and with a rope and pulle}^ or two or three stout assist- 
ants, raise her hind-quarters considerably higher than her shoulders. In 
this position the calf can be easily pushed back in the uterus, so that it can 
be turned and brought to the natural position. 

Many surgeons make it a rule to fasten the part presenting with a cord 
and slip-knot before going in search of the part they desire to bring to 
the mouth. The cord is held by an assistant, and serves as a guide. 

The principal obstetric instrument in the cow is the hook. This is 
made of wrought iron, four inches long, with a loop for the cord at the 
straight end. When by no other means the calf can be delivered, or 
when removing a dead foetus, this hook is fastened in the socket of an 
eye, under the jaAv or in an ear, and by gentle and steady traction the 
resistance is overcome. 

Finally, the foetus may have to be taken out piece-meal, an operation 
which requires considerable skill on the part of the operator, to avoid 
wounding the womb and vagina when he is dissectino: the calf. 



754 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In all such operations certain general rules should be observed, as 
follows : 

First — Thoroughly anoint the hand with lard, or oil, before introduc- 
ing it into the vagina. 

Second — Make the examinations while the cow is standing, and between 
the pains. 

Third — In pulling at the feet, enclose the claws in the hollow of the 
palm, so that they will not tear the delicate coats of the womb. 

Flooding. 

Sometimes after a natural birth which has been rapid, and often aftcf 
an abortion which has been brought on by violence, there is a severe at. 
tack of "flooding," or bleeding from the womb. It may escape from 
the vagina, or it may be indicated by paleness of the mouth and nose, 
weak pulse,' great weakness and coldness of the surface, and the wom]) 
be found to be filled with clotted blood. 

Treatment. — The hand should be introduced into the womb, the clot.n 
and any remaining portion of the after-birth seized and extracted, and a 
sponge dipped in hot vinegar and water, or very hot or very cold water 
alone, be wrung out in the uterus. A full dose of fresh ergot of rye, onei 
to two ounces, should be given without delay. 

If these measures fail, a piece of ice the size of a walnut should be car. 
ried into the womb and left there ; or a tea-spoonful of powdered alum 
should be stirred in a tea-cupful of milk, and a sponge of this be squeezed 
out in the womb. Internally, Prof. Gangee recommends, for either the 
mare or cow, 

No. 6 3 Oz. Compound tincture of cinnamon, 

6 Oz. Diluted sulphuric acid. 

Mix and give two table-spoonfuls for a dose every one or two hours, in a 
quart of water. 

Retention of After-birth. 

There are many causes leading to this. The most common of these 
are hurried deliveries, adherence of the after-birth to the walls of the 
womb, and poverty of the animal. Retention for two or even three days 
under ordinary circumstances is not especially serious. If left to putrify, 
fetid discharges will exhaust the animal. The blood is poisoned, and the 
animal either dies or remains unhealthy for life. After forty-eight hours, 
if trouble still exists, the hand and arm well oiled should be introduced, 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 



755 



and the after-birth carefully separated from the walls of the womb by 
picking with the fingers and nails, and gradual but firm pulling. The 
whole having been completely removed, syringe the vagina thoroughly 
with the following •' 



No. 7. 



1 Oz. Chloride of lime, 
1 Qt. Soft water. 



Give the following as a physic : 

No. 8. 8 Oz. Epsom salts, 

K Oz. Ginger pulverized, 

M Oz. Caraway seed pulverized, 

2. Drachms Copavia. 

Give as a drench. If there is a tendency to bleeding, give the following : 

No. 9. 2. Oz. Ergot of rye, powdered. 

Inversion of the Womb. , 

This occurs from long-continued and excessive straining, and tlieref 
hangs from the birthplace a large red or violet colored bag. Clean the 




TO PREVENT INVERSION OF THE VAGINA. 



bag thoroughly by the free use of warm water. If it is much swollen 
and enlarged, puncture slightly with the lance in several places to let out 
engorged blood. When sufficiently reduced, stop the effusion with cold 
water. Stand the cow so that her head will be permanently lowest in the 
stall. Let two assistants place a cloth underneath the bag and raise it 
to the level of the vagina. The operator with his right hand well oiled, 
4d 



756 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

after oiling the surface of the bag, places his hand against the point or 
bow of the bag farthest f r( m the vagina, presses it steadily but gently 
back, and as far up the vagina as possible. With the left hand, also oiled, 
he now presses in the dependent portions in and up in a similar manner. 
The assistants follow the retracting bag until it is restored. A ball of 
tow is introduced to keep it in place, and a harness (ac shown in the 
foregoing cut), which includes a raised stall. In any event the bowels 
should be restrained for a day or two by doses of laudanum. After 
twenty-four hours, if the pains have ceased and the animal is quiet, the 
ball of tow may be removed, and later the harness. A simplification of 
the harness will easily suggest itself to the operator. 

Languid Labor. 

If the presentation is all right and there is no obstruction, and the 
mouth of the womb is dilated but the labor pains are infrequent and 
weak, careful mechanical assistance should be given with the hands as 
heretofore stated, or try first full doses of ergot ( c rye, one to two 
ounces. It is often inefficient in cows and must be given in large doses. 

Irritability and Straining. 

If this is seen after birth, unless it subsides promptly, or if it show 
itself by repeated spasms and convulsions, give the following in a quart 
of warm milk : Chloroform and laudanum, each half an ounce. If the 
muzzle is dry and the horns hot, showing tendency to fever, the following 
will be better ; 

No. 10. 2 Oz. sweet spirits of nitre, 

2 Oz. laudanum, 
4 Oz. solution of acetate of ammonia. 

This dose to be given in a quart of tepid milk every hour until relieved. 

Temporary Paralysis. 

Cows are frequently paralyzed in their limbs before parturition. If 
they does not regain the use of their limbs soon, or if they improve 
slowly, give the following : 

No. 11. 2 Drachms powdered nux vomica, 

2 Drachms sulphate of iron. 

Give in a pint or two of gruel twice a day. Avoid all so-called cleans- 
ing drinks ; they are generally injurious. When there is unusual debility 
the following will be indicated : 






CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 757 

No. 12. 1 Oz. powdered anise seed, 

1 Oz. '• myrrh, 

1 Oz. " allspice, 

1 Oz. " cummin seed. 

To be stirred in a quart of warm gruel as a drench. 
If constipation is strong and persistent give : 

No. 13. % Lb. sulphate of magnesia, 

1 Oz. ground anise seed, 
C Oz. olive oil. 
Give in a pint of gruel, and repeat daily if needed. 

If there is strong relaxation with continued diarrhea, the following 
will be indicated : 

No. 14. 2 Drachms powdered catechu, 

1 Oz. " ginger, 

30 Drops sulphuric acid, 

1 Oz, laudanum. 

Give in a quart of gruel, ale or weak whisky and water. 

Or, 

No. 15. 1 Oz. powdered ginger, 

1 Oz. bicarbonate of soda, 
1 Oz. laudanum, 
1 Oz. decoction of oak bark. 

Give several times a day in gruel or ale. Half this dose suffices for six 
months' calves, in similar conditions of the bowels. 

Antiseptic washes for cleansing the vagina when the discharge is foul : 

No. 16. 1 Quart clean wood tar, 

2 Quarts boiling rainwater. 

Stir, settle and pour off. 



Another, 



No. 17. 1 Lb. chloride of lime, 

2 Gallons cool soft water. 



Let it settle and pour off clear. A pint or two of either may be injec 
ted twice a day. 



Abortion. 



Abortion may be said to take place in cows when the foetus is expelled 
thirty-five days before the normal period. It may occur from a variety 



758 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 

of reasons, and is much more common during the first half of the normal 
period than in the latter. It may be sporadic, that is, induced by acci- 
dental or local causes, as atmospherical influences, such as bad weather, 
and irregular seasons — severe suddenly succeeding mild weather. Cold 
storms, etc., are especially to be guarded against. As external causes, 
access hy the male, explorations in vagina, surgical operations, throwing 
the animal down, bleeding, and bad or improper food, are among the 
most common of external causes. Excitement, fear, surprise, certain 
odors, contagion, are credited with plajdng an active part in this dis- 
ability. Various diseases are also active parties in tliis direction. When 
cases occur simultaneously over Avide extents of country and without 
known causation, it may be enzootic or epizootic. Ravages of tliis kind are 
not uncommon, and have attracted the attention of veterinarians. 

Isolation. 

When abortion is about to occur in a stable, at the very first symptom 
the animal should be entirely separated from the others, and the stall 
thoroughly disinfected with carbolic acid. In relation to measures pre- 
ventive and remedial, these will be found in the list of properly labeled 
drugs to be kept for that purpose ; they may be referred to at will. Iso- 
lation, however, is of absolute importance, lest the cause extend to other 
or perhaps all the cows in the stable. Ergot or other fungus spores in 
the food may be the cause. All possible causes should be carefully ex- 
amined and remedied. A thorouo;h cleansins: of the stables should be 
made, and disinfectants and fumigants used. The following in the form 
of powder is good as a disinfectant in any case. 

No. 18. 1 Bushel air-slacked lime, 

1 Pound copperas, 
>2 Pound carbolic acid. 
Mix. 

A liquid form : 

No. 19. 1 3^ Pounds chloride of aluminum, 

1 Gallon water. 

Dissolve. This is not poisonous. 

Milk Fever. 

This fever occurs from the first to the third day after calving; rarely later 
than this time. Select breeds and good milkers seem specially liable to attacks 
from this disorder. 

The primary trouble in this disease is inflammation of the lining membranes 
of the womb, extending sometimes to its substance and adjacent parts; and in 
ijome cases involving the bowels themselves. Among its more remote effects 



CATTLiE, THEiR DiSKASES. 759 

are affections of tlic brain, congestion of the spinal cord, apoplexy, blood- 
poisoning and death. 

Causes. — Injury to the womb in calving; the retention of the after-birth; 
exposure to chill and cold by yuilden changes of teni[)erature, poor manage- 
ment, etc., may cause milk fever. At times a contagious character seems to at- 
tach to the disease, and many cons of the same herd suffer. It is also regarded 
as quite certain that a cow having once had the fever, will have it with her 
next calf". Over-feeding as the time of calving approaches is also prominent 
among the the supposed causes of the disease. 

Authorities differ somewhat as to whether " milk fever" is identical with 
inflatnmation of the womb. Some think it is not identical; others, that it is the 
same disease in different stages, or different degrees of violence. 

Symptoms. — The suspension of the milk secretions is one of the earliest in- 
dications of this tronl>le. The cow hangs her head, neglects to feed^ ceases to 
chew the cud, moves her hind feet restlessly, staggers if she attempts to walk, 
looks wild, falls and cannot rise, sways her head from side to side. In this 
stage of disease the head is intensely hot. Power to see and to swallow is lost 
early in the disease; paralysis of the hind-quarters sometimes occurs; if not 
relieved, the breathing becomes hard and rapid ; the pulse becomes faint and 
quick; and sometimes the animal dies in convulsions, or sinks away in stupor. 

Usually the bowels do not move, and the bladder ceases to act. The turn 
of the disease for the better usually comes in thirty or forty hours, when t}je 
animal becomes rational, is able to arise, and the secretions all begin to resume 
their functions. 

Treatment. — When trouble of this character is anticipated, preliminary treat- 
ment is strongly recommended for about a we*^'- before calving. This may 
consist in a purgative of 

1 L'o. Epsom salts, 

^ Lb. table salt, 

^ Oz. ground ginger, 

Mixed with suitable quantity of cold water, and sweetened with molasses. 

At this time the cow's food should be of the lightest kind also, avoiding 
meal and grain. The cow should be carefully sheltered also. After calving, 
if fever be anticipated, give twenty -five drops of tincture of aconite in water, 
repeating the dose every six hours, till four do.ses have been given. This has 
a very direct effect upon the heart and circulation generally. 

If the disease has set in clearly, but exhaustion is not apparent, free-bleed- 
ing is recommended by good authorities. When the pulse is weak and 
thready, however, and when exhaustion is apparent, bleeding is not called for, 
but a stimulant is required. Whisky may meet this case, or 

1 Oz. carbonate of ammonia, 
1 Pint of water. 



760 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

If the cow be unable to sv\'allow, a ball may answer better. It should be 
well oiled and pushed far back into the gullet. Active purges are always an 
advantage, and injections of soap and warm water may be used frequently 
when swallowing is impossible. 

To relieve a heated head, cold water may be used. Carbonate of ammonia 
>2:iven as a ball may relieve swelling of the bowels. When the attack comes 
on, the following formula may be used as a laxative and sedative. 

^ Draclim calomel, 
2 Oz. laudanum, 
1 Lb. castor oil. 

Mix with hot water and molasses, and give in four doses at intervals of 

four hours. 

For the exhaustion following the more acute stages of the disease, the fol- 
lowing is highly commended : 

1 Oz. spirits of turpentine, 
^ Oz. carbonate of ammonia. 

To be given in a quart of cold gruel. 

Mamniitis. 

This disease is known as caked -bag, or garget, and is sometimes erroneously 
called milk fever. It is a disease of rare occurrence in the mare, but is com- 
monly met with in cattle and sheep. 

Definition. — It consists in acute inflammation of the whole or part of the 
mammary gland (udder). 

Causes. — These are numerous; sometimes it is the result of external injury, 
such as blows of any description. Another common source of this disease is 
the cruel practice of " over stocking," which consists in the preparation of the 
cow for show or market, by allowing her to go unmilked until the udder 
becomes enormously distended with milk. This is done to give the gland a 
fine appearance. Cows giving no milk, when being fattened for the butcher, 
sometimes undergo a modified form of this disease; this is caused by some of 
the milk remaining in the gland and acting as an irritant. 

Symptoms. — This disease seldom attacks the whole gland, but is usually con- 
fined to one or two quarters. The atfected parts become hot, hard, swollen, 
tender, and red ; the milk is curdled and whey-like, and usually mixed with 
blood. The constitutional symptoms depend upon the severity of the attack, 
the disease being often ushered in with rigors (trembling), followed by increased 
heat of the skin ; the bowels are usually costive, but are sometimes unnaturally 
loose. The muzzle more or less dry, appetite slightly impaired, pulse quickened, 
together with general fever. 

Treatment. — The first thing is to determine the cause, which must be at once 
removed. If the bowels are costive, a brisk purgative must be given — such as 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 761 

one pound common salt mixed with one pound Epsom salts and half an ounce 
of ginger — the whole stirred in a quart of boiling water and given as a drench 
when cool — for sheep, about one-third of the above will suffice — for mares, 
about eight drachms of aloes with a drachm of ginger must be substitu-ted for 
the salt, etc. After the purgative has done operating, diuretics in the shape of 
salt-petre, may be given night and morning, for about three days — dose, cattle, 
two drachms ; mare, one drachm ; sheep, half a drachm, in say a pint of water. 

The local treatment, which is of great importance, consists in fomenting the 
part thoroughly with warm water, for half an hour at a time, three times a 
day, drying and hand-rubbing; after which, the parts may be smeared with 
olive oil, or goose grease. Poultices of various descriptions are also advanta- 
geously applied to the part, and may be made of spent hops, marsh-mallows, or 
some such substance, bearing in mind that the heat and moisture must be kept 
up, for the poultice to be effectual. 

The animal must be fed upon food which is not calculated to produce milk, 
such as bran-mash, and the like. The milk must be frequently removed for a 
week or ten days. In serious cases, the nearest veterinarian should at once be 
consulted, as individual cases differ so much. 

Treatment of Calves. 

The Calf's First Need. — Every new-born calf needs early cleansing 
by the licking of its dam. If this is neglected, it may be induced by sprink- 
ling salt on the calf. If after the naval string is severed (which the cow does 
with her teeth) it should bleed, it must be tied with a strong thread. If there 
be inflammation at the navel a mollifying ointment may be used ; if a 
tumor appear, it may be lanced and poulticed (see Poultices, p. 785). The 
mother's milk is the best nourishment for the young calf. It also furnishes 
needed correction and regulation for the bowels and other organs. 

Diarrhoea, etc. — Affections of this nature destroy many calves. Un- 
suitable food may induce it, or overheating of the dam. Two ounces of castor 
oil containing one teaspoonful of powdered ginger is a valuable corrective. 
It should be followed by gentian root tea mixed with two ounces of lime- 
water, a pint being given three or four times daily. Where this treatment 
and attention to the diet of mother and calf fail, resort may be had to strong 
teas of oak bark, or willow bark, with ginger added in either case. See also 
remedies under Diarrhoea in cattle, (p. 762). 

Colic. — A form of colic, sometimes called the Shoote, is common among 
young calves, frequently affecting many in the herd. Isolation of the diseased 
animal is the first step in treatment. The disease shows itself in loss of appe- 
tite, listlessness, gripings, frequent watery discharges from the bowels, exhaus- 
tion and death. The prompt administration of a mixture of eggs, flour and 
linseed oil is desirable. One drachm of essence of ginger and two drachma 
of laudanum, mixed in gruel, may be given at intervals until relieved. 



762 JI^LUSTRATED STOCK DOCTTOR. 

Group. — Young calves if exposed to dampness, fogs, etc., are Hal 'e to in- 
flammation of the upper portion of the throat and the formation of a whitish 
substance or false membrane, on these parts. This disorder is shown by a 
hoarse cough, running at the nose, and in breathing by a whistling or croak- 
ing noise. All these symptoms increase as the disease progresses. Mild purges 
must be used at once ; small quantities of saltpeter should be given in drink- 
ing water; and the vapor of slacking lime maybe inhaled to relieve the 
throat of the false membrane. 

Lung Worms. — This title designates the white, thread-like, parasitic worms, 
which are often found in the wind pipe, bronchial tubes and lungs of calves 
and lambs. Low, marshy pasture lands, especially in August and' Septem- 
ber, are conducive to this disease. The accumulation of these parasites is 
sometimes so great, as to choke the afflicted animal to death. A hoarse, 
husky, bronchial cough, loss of flesh and difficulty in breathing, are the more 
evident symptoms. Sometimes the worms may be seen in the saliva or mucus 
which is coughed up ; but where the disease is suspected, careful examination 
for them should be made. 

Separate the afflicted animals from the herd ; place them in a warm, dry 
stable; burn sulphur so that they shall inhale its fumes, which are destructive 
to the parasites. A half ounce of turpentine may be given daily in gruel. 
Half a pint of lime-water with a teaspoonful of turpentine, given once a day, 
is very effective. Relief from the disease should be followed with a tonic 
treatment, giving twice a day a tablespoonful of the following mixture : 

^ ounce Oil of Turpentine, 
2 Drachms Carbonate of Iron, 
4 ounces Solution of Gum- Arabic 



CHAPTER in. 



TNPECTIOUS, CONTAGIOUS AND EPIDEMIC DISEASES, 



PNEUMONIA. HISTORY. ITS MALIGNANT CONTAGIOUSNESS. DEFINITION 

now THE INFECTION ENTERS THE SYSTEM. HOW LONG IS A DISEASED AN- 
IMAL INFECTIOUS. HOW TO KNOW IT. WHAT TO DO. TEXAS FEVER. 

HOW TO KNOW IT. BLOODY MURRAIN. ITS MALIGNANT CHARACTER. 

PREVENTIVES. WHAT TO DO. FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. CON- 
TAGIOUS PLEURA. LICE ON CATTLE. FOULS IN CATTLE. HOUX-AIL, OR HOLLOW 

HORN. CHOKING. DIARKIICEA, DYSENTERY, ETC. COW POX. 

Infectious, Contagious and Epidemic Diseases. 

Among the most terrible of the diseases ever imported into the United 
States is pleuro pneumonia contagiosa known scientilically by a hirge 
number of names, but now generally designated as Bovine Pneumonia 
Plague, and the Lung Plague in cattle ; Texas Fever, known also as 
Spanish Fever and, Texas Cattle Disease, and scientifically as Splenic 
Fever; Bloody Murrain, also known as "Black Quarter" (Quatran) and 
"Quarter Ail," is known among veterinarians by its French name 
Cliarbon, and also as Contagious Anthrax. Thus these will be all that 
it will be necessary to treat at considerable length as among contagious 
diseases. 

Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia. 

This disease which has lately excited so much attention in the United 
States from its violent outbreak in the Atlantic States, and the well 
gi'ounded fear that for the lack of national legislation it might overrun 
the whole country, is the most malignant with which the farmers of the 
country have had to deal. Once fairly established in the West there 

763 



764 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

will be no possible means of eradicating it. It will remain a fixture 
forever. 

History. 

This disease has been known in Europe and Asia from the remotest 
civilization, and has been treated since the first gathering together of 
cattle in large herds. Aristotle, evidently writing of this disease three 
hundred years before Christ, describes the symptoms accurately, inas- 
much as he says: "The cattle which live in herds are subject to a 
malady during which the breathing becomes hot and frequent ; the ears 
droop and they cannot eat. They die rapidly, and the lungs are found 
spoiled." Greek and Roman writers also describe what appears to be 
the same disease, and Valentine particularizes a fatal lung plague which 
evidently corresponds to this malignant and terrible scourge. 

Its Malignant Contagiousness. 

Unfortunately veterinary science has never yet discovered a remedy. 
Its attack is so insidious, and often occupies so long a time in the stage 
of incubation, that a whole herd may be infected almost before it is 
known. As in the case of all German plagues, nothing is known of its 
origin ; but just as soon as it is apparent that a case is being well devel- 
oped, the only safe plan is prompt killing, deep burying of the carcass, 
skin and all, and the free use of quick-lime (a barrel to the carcass) 
before being covered up. 

Definition. 

This disease is defined as follows : 

A specific contagious disease peculiar to cattle, and manifested by a 
long period of incubation (ten daj^s to three months) by a slow insidious 
onset, by a low type of fever, and by the occurrence of inflammation in 
the air-passages, lungs and their coverings, with an extensive exudation 
into the lungs and pleurse. 

That the infection is carried by the animals Avherever they go is certain. 
That it is carried in the air to a very considerably extent seems altogether 
probable. That it is carried by inoculation is well demonstrated ; and 
also by contact of diseased portions of an animal with the membranes of 
a well one, is as certain as that the contagion is carried by attendants on 
sick animals and is proved almost beyond controversy. That the conta- 
gion will hold in stables for months even after being thoroughly cleaned 
and washed with disinfectant liquids, is proved just as clearly as that it 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 7G5 

may be carried by the many. That it may be taken in pastures and with 
fodder is too well authenticated to leave room for doubt. 

Vitality of the Vii'us. 

There is much difference of opinion Avith regard to the power of the 
virus to resist ordinary destructive influences. In many cases the free 
exposure of an infected place for three or four months to the action of 
the air has puritied it so that fresh stock have been introduced with 
impunity. On the other hand, instances can be adduced in which cattle 
have been infected by being placed in stables in which cattle had not 
been kept at least four months j)reviously. Other things being equal, it 
will be preserved longest where it has been dried up and covered from 
the free access of the air. Thus in very dry and close buildiiigs, in those 
having rotten wood-work, or deep dust-filled cracks in the masonry, and 
in those with a closed space beneath a wooden floor, it clings with the 
greatest tenacity. Again, when the buildings contain piles of lumber, 
litter, hay, fodder, or clothing, the virus is covered up, secreted and 
preserved for a much longer time than if left quite empty. In these 
last it is preserved just as it is in woolen or other textile fabrics, and 
carried from place to place by human beings. 

As carried through the air, the distance at which the virus retains its 
infecting properties varies much with varying conditions. The author 
has seen a sick herd separated from a healthy one by not more than 
fifteen yards and a moderately close board fence of seven feet high, and 
in the absence of all inter-communication of attendants, the exposed 
herd kept perfectly sound for six months in succession. On the other 
hand, infection will sometimes take place at a much greater distance 
without any known means of conveyance on solid ol)jects. Roll quotes 
50 to 100 feet, while others claim to have seen infection at a distance of 
200 and 300 feet. But it may well be questioned whether in sucn cases 
the virus had not been dried up on light objects, like feathers, paper, 
straw, or hay, which could be borne on the wind. This, from being in 
thicker layers, would escape the destruction that would have befallen it 
had it been carried in the air only as invisible particles. 

How the Infection Enters the System. 

The seat of the disease, its progress, and the result of all attempts at 
moculation, favor the presumption that the virus is usually taken in with 
the air breathed. Not onlv are the lesions concentrated in the lungs, 
but they begin with cloudiness and swelling of the smaller air-tubes and 
Burrounding connective tissues. 



766 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The exudation into the interlobular tissue, the congestion of the lung 
tissue itself, and the implication of the lung covering, are secondary phe- 
nomena. In other words, the disease begins where the inspired air must 
lodge the germs. Thus the inoculation of the virulent lung products on 
distant parts of the body of a sound beast rarely determines the character- 
istic lesions in the lungs, in lieu of which it induces in the seat of inoculation 
an exudation less abundant, as might be expected from the greater density 
and resistance of the integument, but which can, like the morbid lung 
products, be inoculated on sound animals with protective effect. It seems 
probable that the poison is multiplied in both cases, but that the special 
loose and susceptible texture of the lung renders its production incompar- 
ably more abundant, as the continuous ingress and egress of air through 
the diseased organ renders it immeasurably more infecting. 

How Long a Diseased Animal is Infectious. 

Proof is wanting as to the infectious nature of the disease during the 
incubative stage. If negative evidence were of any value in a case like 
this, it would be easy to adduce cases in which the removal of an animal 
as soon as it shoAved symptoms of the plague had apparently saved the 
rest of the herd. In other cases, the malady has been eradicated from a 
herd by careful watching, and the prompt removal of every animal as 
soon as sickness appeared. The period of greatest virulence is that at 
which the fever runs hio:hest and when the lung is being loaded with the 
morbid exudation. 

But it nmst not ■ be inferred that with the subsidence of the fever the 
danger is removed. It is a matter of every day observation that animals 
which have passed through the feVer, that are now thriving well, or giving 
a free supply of milk, and to ordinary observers would appear in perfect 
health, retain the power of transmitting the disease to others. This may 
CO itinue for three, six, nine, twelve, or, according to some, even fifteen 
months after all signs of acute illness have disaj^peared. This is easily 
explained. The tendency of the disease is to interrupt the circulation in 
the most severely affected parts of the lungs ; the exudation around this 
becomes developed into a tough fibrous envelope, which closes off the 
dead mass from the adjacent lung and from all communication with the 
external air. The dead and imprisoned mass now undergoes a process of 
breaking down, liquefaction, and absorption, commencing at the surface, 
and slowly advancing towards the centre. The encysted portion of the 
dead lung is one mass of infecting material, and as it undergoes no change 
except that of liquefaction, and exhales at no time any putrid odor, it re- 
mains infectious so long as it retains the solid form. At the outset more 
than half a lung may be thus encysted, and five or six months after alleged 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 767 

recovery we still find masses of from one to two pounds weight waiting 
for the slow process of solution. Whenever there arc indications of the 
existence of such encysted masses, the animal should be looked on as in- 
fectious, and disposed of as summarily as if in the acute stages of the 
disease. Mr. Law gives the following rules when the disease is suspected : 

1. Remove all litter, manure, feed and fodder from the stables ; scrape 
the walls and floor — wash them if necessary ; remove all rotten wood. 

2. Take chloride of lime one-half lb., crude carbolic acid, 4 ozs., and 
water, 1 gal ; add freshly-burned quick-lime till thick enough to make a 
good whitewash ; whitewash with this the walls, roof, floors, posts, man- 
gers, drains and other fixtures in the cow stables. 

3. Wash so as to thoroughly cleanse all pails, buckets, stools, forks, 
shovels, brooms and other movable articles used in the l)uildings ; then 
wet them all over with a solution of carbolic acid 1-2 \y., water 1 gal. 

4. Whep the empty building has been cleansed and disinfected as 
above, close the doors and windows, place in the center of the building a 
metallic dish holding 1 lb. flowers of sulphur ; set fire to this and let the 
cow-shed stand closed until filled with the fumes for at least two hours. 
The above should suffice for a close stable capable of holding twelve cows. 
For larger, or very open buildings, more will be required. 

5. The manure from a stable where sick cattle have been kept, must 
be turned over and mixed with quicklime, two bushels to every load ; 
then hauled by horses to fields to which no cattle have access, and at 
once plowed under by horses. 

6. The pits, where the manure has been, must be cleansed and washed 
with the disinfectant fluid ordered for the building. 

7. The surviving herd should be shut up in a close building for half 
an hour, once or twice a day, and made to breathe the fumes of burning 
sulphur. Close doors and window;?, place a piece of paper on a clean 
shovel, lay a few pinches of flowers of sulphur upon it, and set it on fire ; 
adding more sulphur, pinch by pinch, as long as the cattle can stand it 
without couo-hino;. Continue for a month. 

8. Give two drachms powdered copperas (green vitriol) daily to each 
cow in meal or grains : or, divide 1 lb. copperas into 50 powders, and 
give one daily to each adult animal. 

9. Do not use for the surviving cattle any feed, fodder or litter that 
has been in the same stables with the sick. They may safely be used for 
horses and sheep. 

What to Do. 

There is only one remedy — entire isolation of the herd infected. The 
prompt killing and slashing of the hides of diseased animals, deep burial. 



768 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and covering the bodies mtli quick-lime. It may be stamped out only 
by the free use of the poll-axe, and the thorough disinfection by the 
most severe means of the premises, utensils and attendants. It is one 
of those cases where heroic treatment is of supreme value. 

How to Know It. 

The symptom most easily known in the early stage is an increased tem- 
perature of the body. If a clinical thermometer be introduced into the 
rectum of a beast in an infected district, and an abnormal heat is ascer- 
tained, it is safe to suspect the disease ; therefore send for a veterinarian 
at once. Next a slight cough will show itself ; the hair will be erected 
along the back ; there may be shivering and always tenderness of the 
back when pinched ; the breathing and pulse is accelerated ; the bowels 
are costive, rumination is irregular. The urine is scanty and high col- 
ored, the appetite fails, the milk-flow is diminished, the nose will be alter- 
nately moist and dry. The horns and other extremities will be alternately 
hot and cold. In the field, the sick animals will separate from the herd. 
All the symptoms become more and more apparent until the animal 
remains in a fixed posture, the head rigidly extended, the mouth open, at 
every inspiration a moan, until at length the animal succumbs, a loath- 
some and noxious mass of contagion. 

What to Do. 

A resort to remedies should not be had unless the animals are taken 
early in hand, and can be isolated in a building far from any herd. It 
will not pay except in the case of thorough-bred or otherwise valuable 
stock. This is especially the case in the West, if that section should be 
unfortunate enough to import the disease. Prof. Gamgee, who made an 
elaborate report for the Government in 1871, strongly and wisely con- 
demns purgatives and bleeding, but believes the disease may be checked, 
if taken in time, by isolating the whole herd, and depending on active 
internal astringents. He advises daily doses of sulphate of iron, one-half 
to one drachm to the bullock, mixed with an equal weight of linseed and 
coriander seeds, given in bran to disguise it ; this he has found to miti- 
gate the cough, followed by the disappearance of the disease. 

In the second stage of the disease, he advises light but nutritious food, 
copious warm water injections, and the following stimulant : 

No. 20. K Oz carbonate of ammonia, 

1 Qt. linseed oil. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 769 

Mix, and give this dose two or three times a day. When only one 
lung is involved, recovery occasionally takes place ; when both are in- 
volved, there is little or no hope. For cough and debility during con- 
valescence, he advises the following tonic : 

No. 21. X Oz. oxide of magnesia, 

>i Oz. iron filings, fine, 
1}4 Oz. tincture of gentian, 
1 Pt. water. 
To be given daily. 

Another prescription is recommended — 

No. 23. 1 Drachm carbolic acid, 

1 Pint water 
To be given as a dose three times a day. 

The reader will see, upon a careful study of the foregoing, that but 
one prescription — killing — is the only safe plan. 

Texas Fever. 

This disease, now called Splenic Fever, resembles in some of its phases 
the terrible Rinderpest of Asiatic Russia, but it is far less malignant and 
less contagious. It also disappears with the first frost, being effectually 
stamped out during the Winter, not to be again seen until again reintro- 
duced by the passage of Texas cattle. So again it is not given by our 
Northern cattle to other beasts. The disease has its home on the coast 
of Texas, but how it originated is not clearly known. After death the 
spleen is found greatly enlarged and softened, the kidneys broken, dung 
and the blood fluid. 

. How to Know It. 

The period of incubation extends over four or five weeks after the poi- 
son has been introduced. The fever will at first be moderate, the tem- 
perature as shown by a clinical thermometer, introduced into the rectum, 
will be 103 to 107 degrees. Then follows dullness, cough, trembling, 
jerking of the muscles, drooping of the head, arching of the back. The 
horns are hot, rumination ceases, and the appetite not good. The eyes 
become glassy and watery, the urine deep red or black from the blood 
contained ; the dung is hard and coated with blood ; the mouth and rec- 
tum will be a dark red or copper color ; and the animal dies in a stupor 
or convulsions. 

Gamgee always found present in the examination of nearly 5,000 
animals that the fourth stomach was distinctly inflamed and the spleen 



770 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

always enlarged and of a purplish color — on cutting the pulp oozing out 
soft like currant jelly. Hence the name, " Splenic Fever." 

What to Do. 

Put the animal in a roomy stable with good ventilation, and give soft 
food. As an internal remedy give 

No. 23. ,'i Oz. chlorate of potash, 

1 Oz. tincture of chloride of iron, 
1 Quart water. 
Mix and give as a dose to to be followed two or three times a day. 

The most dangerous symptoms being passed, give plentiful food and 
the following tonic. 

jSo. 24. >i Oz. sulphate of iron, 

1 Oz. tincture of ginger, 
1 Qt. water. 
This amount twice daily. 

Professor Gamgee does not regard medical treatment as being hopeful. 
In addition he advises that the limbs be well rubbed, and the bowels 
moved by injections. During the first tw^o or three days he recommends 
ounce doses of laudanum, and later as a stimulant the following; 

No. 24. ^A Oz. sulphuric ether, 

4 Oz. of acetate of ammonia. 

Give in a quart of linseed tea three times a day. 

Bloody Murrain. 

Contagious Anthrax, known also as charbon, black leg, black quarter, 
black tongue — is so called because the parts attacked turn black, 
owing to decomposition of the blood. It arises undoubtedly from con- 
tagion, eating bad food, pasturing on swamp lands in summer, drinking 
stagnant water, etc. Whatever the poison, certain it is it has wonderful 
tenacity of life ; every part of the animal will carry it, even the excre- 
ment. Flies will carry it, a yoke worn by a diseased ox retains it. Even 
alcohol is said not be able to kill the poison. Fortunately it rarely occurs 
in its truly malignant form. There are many types of the disease 
attacking particular parts. In the tongue it is known as black tongue, or 
blain ; in the throat as putrid sore throat. When it attacks the bowels 
it is called bloody murrain. 



CATTLE, THEIR mSEASES. 771 

Its Malignant Character. 

In this disease it must be remembered that in its malignant form it 
attacks not only cattle and horses, but all tlie herbivora, swine and birds. 
It is communicable to other and different animals by inoculation, showing 
itself in different forms, but all characterized by the brealdng down of 
the blood globules, rupture of tissues and letting out blood and albumin- 
ous fluids, with gangrene, yellow or brown mucous membrane, enlargement 
and sometimes rupture of the spleen, and a very high death rate. Immense 
numbers of human beings have died first and last from eating the flesh 
of diseased animals. This is especially the case among the Tartars, who 
do not refrain from eating even the flesh of anthrax horses. As many 
as a thousand persons are recorded as having died in six weeks in San 
Domingo from eating the flesh of such diseased animals. Mosquitoes, 
and other biting insects are supposed to cause breaking out of the malig- 
nant pustule in man, from the fact of its always arising on exposed 
portions of the body. In relation to the various manifestations of the 
malignant anthrax Professor Law says : 

*' Malignant anthrax may be manifested by external disease, or swelling 
or without such appearances. To the first class belong the carbuncular, 
erysipelas, of sheep and swine, malignant sore throat of hogs, gloss- 
anthrax or black tongue, black quarter or bloody murrain, the boiled 
plague of Siberia, and the malignant pustule of man. To the second 
belong all those forms of disease in which there are the specific changes 
in blood, with engorgement of the spleen, blood-staining, and exudations 
into internal organs only. 

Preventives. 

Upon the first intimation of the disease the well animals of the herd 
should be removed to clean, new pasture, where there is pure water. 
Avoid all bleeding, purging, and lowering medicines. The animals must 
be kept up. So all local applications to the swellings seem useless. A 
seton, composed of a yard of broad coarse tape, inserted in the dewlap 
turned every day and smeared with irritating ointment might prove ben- 
eficial. This should remain in from four to six weeks. 

Youatt and others advise the following : 

No. 25. 2 to 4 Drachms chloride of lime, 

1 Oz. prepared chalk, 

2 Drachms laudmum. 

Mix and give in a pint of warm gruel every two or three hours. 

Recent French authors, in treating the malignant form of the disease, 



772 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

recommend quinine, one or two drachms, repeated every two or three 
hours in severe cases. Also hj^odermic injections of a solution of iodine 
as follows : 

No. 26. 2 Grains iodine, 

5 Grains iodide ol potassium, 

1 Oz. water. • 

Use a syringeful every hour in severe cases. In extreme ones, it is ad- 
vised that this be thrown directly into the veins ; also that the strength be 
kept up by stimulants ; among those recommended most strongly is car- 
bonate of ammonia. 

Blain. 

When bloody murrain attacks the tongue it is called blain. In the case 
of blain it is recommended to open the pustule freely from end to end, 
with a sharp lancet, before the poison has been absorbed. Treat the 
same surface freely with the following : 

No. 27. 20 Grains chloride of lime, 

1 Oz. water. 

Mop the parts freely. 

Sulphuric or nitric acid, nitrate of mercury, lunar caustic, and other 
strong caustics, are equally good. When it may be accomplished, burn- 
ing with a hot iron is advised. 

Foot and Mouth Disease. 

One other contagious disease will be necessary to be treated of here, 
as beginning to be of common occurrence, having prevailed more or less 
since its introduction into the United States in 1869. This is epizootic 
aptha, generally knoAvn as foot and mouth disease. Although a contagious 
febrile disease occurring in cattle and sheep, and communicable by trans- 
mission to swine and even man, it is fortunately rarely fatal, and is 
characterized in animals by an eruption of small blisters in the mouth, 
and between the clefts of the hoofs, and along the upper margin of the 
coronet. It is a specific poison of obscure origin, remaining in the system 
from one to four days before producing its characteristic symptoms. 

How to Know It. 

There is an increase of temperature in the body, followed by an erup- 
tion of small blisters, of the size of a dime, situated on the tongue, the 
roof of the mouth, inside the lips, and occasionally on the udder. The 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 



773 



blisters in the cleft of the hoofs and around the coronet and heels, are 
identical with the others, but smaller. 

When the disease is mild, it is easily cured by daily applications of a portion 
of the following, applying by means of a swab or sponge : 

2 Oz. powdered golden seal, 1 Oz. tincture of matico, 4 Oz. honey. 

When the disease is violent and of long standing, it is apt to extend through 
the whole course of the alimentary canal. The method of cure, in this event, 
is by tonics and astringents. The remedies are tincture of matico, golden seal, 
and sulphur, in the following proportions : 



4 drachms tincture of matico, 
2 drachms sulphur, 



2 drachms powdered golden seal. 
1 pint water. 



The patient's diet should consist of oatmeal gruel, slightly alkalized with 
hyposulphite of soda. 

Malignant Catarrh. 

Caused by feeding in damp, cold situa- 
tions, and feeding on marshes in peculiar 
seasons. Low, wet river bottoms are 
most subject to give it to stock. The dis- 
ease somewhat resembles the Russian cat- 
tle plague, but is not usually contagious. 
Professor James Law gives symptoms and 
treatment as follows : 

A slight diarrhoea may be followed by 
costiveness, the dung being black, firm 
and scanty. The hair is rough and erect ; 
shivering ensues ; the head is depressed ; 
the roots of the horns and forehead hot ; 
eyes sunken, red, watery, with turbidity 

in the interior and intolerance of light; muzzle dry and hot; mouth hot with 
much saliva ; the membranes, mouth, nose and vagina bluish-red ; pulse rapid; 
impulse of the heart weak ; breathing hurried ; cough ; urine scanty and high 
colored, and surface of the body alternately hot and cold. In twenty-four hours 
all the symtoms are aggravated ; the nose discharges a slimy fluid ; forehead is 
warmer and duller on percussion ; the mouth covered with dark red blotches, 
from which the cuticle soon peels off, leaving raw sores; appetite is completely 
lost; dung and urine passed with much pain and straining, and there is gener- 
ally stiffness and indisposition to move. From the fourth to the sixth day 
ulcers appear on the nose and muzzle, swellings take place beneath the 
jaws, chest and abdomen, and on the legs the skin may even slough off 
49 




MALIGNANT CATARRH— SLOUGHING 



774 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR . 

in patches ; a foetid saliva drivels from the mouth and a stinking diarrhoea 
succeeds the costiveness. Death usually ensues from the eighth to the 
tenth day, preceded perhaps by convulsions or signs of suffocation. 
The treatment is to clean the bowels with the following : 

No. 28. 1 Pint olive oil, 

1 Oz. laudauum. 

In eight or ten hours, if it do not operate, give another. Follow this 
with diuretics, sweet spirits of nitre in half-ounce doses, and also with 
antiseptics, potassa chlorate, in doses of one-quarter drachm. Wet cloths 
should be kept on the head ; the mouth and nose sponged whli quite a 
weak solution of carbolic acid. Giv ; as food only soft mashes. 

Lice on Cattle. 

All cattle, and especially those in poor condition, are liable to attacks of 
lice of various species, which will propagate very rapidly, soon infesting other 
stock and even the stahlos and barns themselves. Treatment nuist, therefore, 
he directed promptly at the animals, and their surroundings also. Stables 
should be cleaned and whitewashed. Their scratching places should be coated 
with petroleum or coal tar. 

For treatment of the cattle, poisonous substances must be shunned carefully, 
as their habit of licking themselves would result in their injury. One of the 
simplest preparations is a strong solution of tobacco leaves saturated with 
rock salt. This may be applied thoroughly on several occasions at intervals 
of three or four days. Kepetition is necessary to tlie extirpation of the 
young, which may be hatched after the first application. If alcohol be used 
in the decoction of tobacco leaves it will destroy the nits as well as the lice, 
and prove the quickest relief from the pests. 

A good preparation which will remain well upon the hide is this: 

Linseed oil, 4 parts. 

Common creosote, 1 part. 

An ointment of cayenne pepper, or Scotch snuff mixed with hog's lard, well 
rubbed in, will be found very effective. Especially look out for vermin in 
young stock, or stock in poor condition. 

Fouls in Cattle. 
Foul claw, or foul in the foot, is a disease characterized by inflammation 
and suppuration of the substance in the cleft of the hoof. Sometimes it 
extends to the entire foot, and even includes the whole leg, causing fever, 
failure, and death in some cases. Usually it affects the hind feet. Foreign 
substances between the claws, excessive weight and strain upon the foot, or a 
scrofulous condition of the system may cause this trouble. Its best treatment 
consists of careful cleansing of the sore; poulticing, if much inflamed, and 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 775 

astringent applications. In cleansing, a syringe may be needed, using a 
solution of carbolic acid. Cloths saturated with the solution should be pressed 
into the opening and bound there. A clean stable, or a dry pasture ground 
are essential. For a wash, use: 

Carbolic acid, one drachm, 
Water, six ounces. 

For an ointment, use : 

Oil of turpentine, four ounces ; 

Lard, four ounces ; 

Powdered sulphate of copper, one ounce. 

Horn- Ail, or Hollow Horn. 

What is popularly known by these names is not a disease originating in the 
horns or located there. A peculiar coldness of tlie horns is one of its symp- 
toms, but the cause of the disease is a degenerated condition of the blood, 
resulting from other diseases, or from exposure, foul air, unclean stables, poor 
food, bad water, etc. Uniformity of food may produce these ill conditions. 

General debility, loss of flesh, rough, lousy hide, loose or constipated bowels, 
whiteness of tongue and cold horns are the usual symptoms. 

All local treatment of the horns is worthless. Good food, cleanly and 
comfortable housing and treatment for vermin if they be present are the first 
requisites. Cleansing the bowels and tonic treatment are then in order. 

Use for one week daily in dry food, the following: 

Sulphate of iron, two drachms ; 
Powdered nux vomica, one drachm ; 
Powdered gentian, one ounce. 

Choking. 

For detailed directions for determining and treating this dangerous difii- 
culty, see under Horses, pages 474-476. 

Diarrhoea, Dysentery, etc. 
The symptoms of these disorders are so fully understood as scarcely to need 
description. Reference may be made, however, to the full discussion cover- 
ing both horses and cattle given in Chapter VI., Diseases of Horses, pages 
362-364. See Recipes, No. 67, 69, page 790, and "Astringents," page 502. 

Cow-Pox. 

This disorder is akin to small-pox in man, though it is far less to be 
dreaded. It sometimes appears without discoverable cause, but inoculation or 
contact with the disease is regarded as essential to its propagation. It begins 
with slight fever; pimples then appear on the teats, udder and belly; the 
milk diminishes, the cow droops and its appetite fails. It is not uncommon 
for several crops of pustules to form, break, and dry up. The sick animal 
should be isolated and subjected to a mild, sedative treatment, keeping the 



776 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

bowels free, but not loose. See "Cathartics," page 502; and "Sedatives," 
page 506. The teats may need washing with warm water or a healing lotion. 
Cow-pox is seldom severe, and scarce ever fatal, but its inoculation may 
readily be taken by man in handling the sick cow. 



I 



CHAPTER IV. 



MEDICINES AND INSTRUMENTS— WHAT TO KEEP. 



I. DISSECTION. n. ACTIOX OP MEDICINES. III. MEDICINES TO BE KEPT, AND DOSES. 

IV. SIMPLE AND VALUABLE RECIPES. V. FORMS OP CLYSTERS. VI. INFUSIONS. 

VII. ANTI-SPASM0DIC3. VIII. FOMENTATIONS. IX. MUCILAGES. X. WASHES. 

XI. POULTICES. XU. FUMIGATIONS. XIU. TINCTURE FOR WOUNDS. 



I. Dissection. 



In the dissection of cattle the axe and meat saw, and butcher's knife 
must be largely depended on, in the hands of farmers, since all that is 
necessary is to get at the diseased parts to note their appearance and the 
seat of the disease, the symptoms having been previously carefully noted. 
This matter has been treated of in diseases of the horse, chapter XIX., 
article Dissection, to which the reader is referred. See page 509. 

n. Action of Medicines. 

The action of medicines, doses for horse, ox, sheep and swine is also 
treated of in chapter XIX., of the horse, together with much other val- 
uable matter applicable to animals generally. See pages 500-516. 

III. Medicines to be Kept, and Doses. 

It will not be necessary to keep more than a small stock of the medi- 
cines in most common use, or such as may be required in an emero-enqy. 
Those adapted to the horse, will, as a rule be also adapted to other stock. 
In chapter XIX. a pretty full list will be found, with the appropriate 
doses for cattle, sheep and swine, as well as the horse ; also the proper 
proportionate dose for animals of various ages up to the adult. It will 
not be necessary to repeat them here. See page 511. 

777 



778 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



For the purpose of enabling our readers to become familiar with the 
bony structure of cattle we give an illustration of the skeleton of the ox 
with the correct names of the various parts as known in veterinary sci- 
ence. It will be found valuable for reference, not only to the student in 
veterinary art, but also to every one who proposes to keep and breed 
cattle. 







3 tie 




SKELETON OF THE OX. 



Explanation of Cut. — A — Cervical Vertebrae. B B — Dorsal Vertebrae. 
C — Lumbar Vertebrae. D — Sacrum. E E — Con cygeal Bones. FF 
— Ribs. G — Costal Cartilages. H — Scapula. / — Humerus. K K — 
Radius. L — Ulna. M — Carpus or Knee. 1 — Scaphoid. 2 — Semilunar. 
3 — Cuneiform. 4 — Trapezium. 5 — Trapezoid. 6 — Os Magnum. 7 — . 
Unceiform. 8 — Pisiform. N JST — Large Metacarpel or Cannon. — 
Small Metecarpel. P P — Sesamoid Bones. Q Q — Phalanges. 1 — Os 
Suffraginis or Pastern Bone. 2 — Os Coronae. 3 — Os Pedis. R — Pelvis. 
1— Illium. 2— Pubis. 3— Ischium. xS— Femur. T— Patella. U— 
Tibia. F— Fibula. TF— Hocks. 1— Os Calcis. 2— Ostragulus. 3— 
Cuneiform Magnum. 4 — Cuneiform Median. 5 — Cuneiform Parvum. 
6 — Cuboid. JT— Large Metatarsal. 1, 2, 3 — Phalanges, r"— Small 
Metatarsal. Z — Head. 1 — Inferior Maxilla. 2 — Superior Maxilla. 3 — 
Anterior Maxilla. 4 — Nasal Bone. 5 — Molar. 6 — Frontal. 7 — Parietal. 
8 — Occipital. 9 — Lachrymal. 10 — Squamous. 11 — Petrous. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 779 

III comparing the skeleton of the ox with that of the horse, we can 
readily perceive the difference in the length of the limb and neck pos- 
sessed by the latter. Speed seems to have been an object at the creation, 
and as the bod}'^ was elevated the neck needed proportionate length in 
order to feed. The body of the horse corresponds to a square, while 
that of the ox to a long rectangle. The limbs of the oxarestraiirhtcrthan 
those of the horse, much less speed being demanded. The ribs of the 
former are both* longer and larger than those of the latter, greater pro- 
tection with sluggardness of movement being required. In the head of 
the ox we find the two plates or tables noticed in the horse ; in the latter, 
however, they lie close together, while in the former, as in all horned 
animals, there is considerable space between them. This diversity creates 
a number of cells, having bon}^ ridges passing from the inner to the outer 
plate, which secures the firmness of the parts. These cells form roomy 
find strong sockets for the horns. The cavity containing the brain of the 
ox is about one-fourth the size of the other parts of the skull ; the organs 
of mastication and those of smell taking up the remaining portions. In 
cattle the frontal bones extend from the nose to the superior ridge of the 
skull, presenting a flat, irregular surface, totally bare of any muscular or 
fleshy covering. The weapon of defense and offense employed by cattle 
is the horn and nature has securely based it and rendered it effective by 
this expanse of the frontal bone. There is the same division in the 
center of the frontal sinuses as in the horse, but the perfection of divis- 
ion between the nostrils is wanting. Commencing about half way up the 
nose, the septum is wanting at the lower part, and the two nostrils are, 
as it were, thrown into one; the frontal sinuses connect with the nasal, 
thus forming a continuous cavity from the muzzle to the horn, and from 
one muzzle to the other. In polled cattle the frontal bone holds the 
same situation — reaching from the nasal bones to the parietal ridge — but 
as they were not designed for the base of horns, they narrow off towards 
the poll. The temporal bones in cattle are small, deep in the temporal 
fossa and destitute of the squamous structure. The occipital bone is, 
in the ox, deprived of almost all the importance attached to it in the 
confornjation of the horse. The sphemoid and ithmoid bones are in the 
same relative position. 

IV. Simple and Valuable Medical Becipes for Cattle. 

Dr. G. H. Dadd, M.D., V.S., a medical practitioner of repute, and 
celebrated as a veterinary surgeon, up to the time of his death, some 
fifteen years ago, attributed nmch of his success to not being bound by 
any rigid rules of practice. Thus he, while having been bred under the 
Allopathic system of medicine, used largely of botanical agents, as in 



780 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

fact do Jill our best physicians now, more largely than formerly. In the 
appendix to his work on the diseases of cattle he gives a series of recipes 
under appropriate headings, which we reproduce in a somewhat different 
and condensed form, as being at the same time simple and efficacious. 
In his observations on the action of medicine, and external agents on the 
animal body, he says, that warmth and moisture always expand it, and 
bayberry bark, tannin, and gum catechu always contract it ; and that 
these agents have these effects at all times (provided, ho'wever, there be 
sufficient vitality in the part to manifest these peculiar changes) and under 
all circumstances. If a blister be applied to the external surface of an 
animal, and it produces irritation, it always has a tendency to produce 
that effect, whatever part of the living organism it may be applied to. 
So alcohol always has a tendency to stimulate, whether given by the 
mouth or rubbed on the external surface, it will produce an excitement 
of nerves, heart and arteries, and of course the muscles partake of th^ 
influence. Agtvin, marsh mallows, gum acacia, slippery elm, etc., alwaj's 
lubricate the mucous surfaces, quiet irritation, and relieve inflammatory 
symptoms. 

It follows, of course, 1st. That when any other effects than those just 
named are seen to follow the administration of these articles, they must 
be attributed to the morbid state of the parts to which they are applied ; 
2d. That a medicine which is good to promote a given effect in one form 
of disease, will be equally good for the same purpose in another form of 
disease in the same tissue. Thus, if an infusion of mallows is good for 
inflammation of the stomach, and will lubricate the surface, and allay 
irritation in that organ, then it is equally good for the same purpose in 
inflammation of the bowels and bladder. What we wish the reader to 
understand is this : that a medicine used for any particular symptom in 
one form of disease, if it be a sanative agent, is equally good for the 
same symptom in every form. 

The medicines we recommend owe their diuretic, astringent, diaphoretic 
and cathartic powers to their aromatic, relaxing, antispasmodic, lubricating 
and irritating properties ; and if we give them with a view of producing 
a certain result, and they do not act just as we wish, it is no proof that 
they have not done good. The fact is, all our medicines act on the parts 
where nature is making the greatest efforts to restore equilibrium ; hence 
they relieve the constitution, whatever may be the nature of their results. 



V. Forms of Clysters. 



Laxative clvster 



No. 29. 3 or 4 Quarts warm water, 

8 Ounces linseed oil, 
1 Table-spoonful common salt (fine>. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 781 



Another 



No. 'SO. 4 Quarts warm water, 

1 Gill solt soap, 

>a Table-spoonful fine salt. 

Useful in obstinate constipation, "stoppage," or whenever the excre- 
ment is hard and dark colored. 
Emollient clyster : 

No. 31. 2 Ounces slippery elm bark, 

2 Quarts boiling water. 

Simmer over the fire a few minutes, strain through a fine sieve, and 
inject, when nearly cool. The following articles may be substituted for 
elm : flaxseed, lily roots, gum arable, poplar bark, Iceland moss. 

Use. — In all cases of irritation and inflammation of the intestines and 
bladder. 

Stimulating clyster : * • 

No. 32. 3 Quarts of thin mucilage of slippery elm or linseed tea, 

1 Teaspoonful African cayenne, pure. 

Another : 

No. 33. K Table-spoonful powdered ginger, 

3 Quarts boiling water. 

When cool, inject. 

Use. — In all cases when the rectum and small intestines are inactive 
and loaded with excrement, or gas. 
Anodyne clyster : 

No. 34. 1 Ounce lady's slipper (cypripedium), 

i Ounce camomile flowers, 
3 Quarts boiling water. 

Let the mixture stand a short time, then strain throusfh a fine sieve 
when it will be fit for use. 

Use. — To relieve pain and relax spasms. 
Diuretic clyster : 

No. 35. 3 Quarts linseed tea, 

1 Table-spoonful oil of juniper. 

Or, substitute for the latter, cream of tartar, half an ounce. 

Use. — This form of clyster may be used with decided advantage in all 
acute diseases of the urinary organs. This injection is useful in cases of 
red water, both in cattle and sheep ; and when the malady is supposed to 



782 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

result from general or local debility, the addition of tonics (golden seal 
or gentian) will be indicated. Their active properties may be extracted 
by infusion. 

Astringent clyster : 

Take an infusion of hardback, strain, and add a table-spoonful of 
finely-pulverized charcoal to every three quarts of fluid. 

Another is an infusion of witch hazel. 

Another : 

No. 36. 1 Table-spoonful powdered bayberry bark, 

3 Quarts boiliDg water. 

When cool, it is fit for use. 

Use. — Astringent injections are used in all cases where it is desired to 
contract the living fibre, as in scouring, dysentery, scouring rot, diarrhea, 
bloody flux, falling of the womb, fundament, etc. 

Nourishing clysters : 

Nourishing clysters are composed of thin gruel made from flour, etc. 

Injection for worms : 

Make an infusion of pomegranate (rind of the fruit), and inject every 
night for a few days. This will rid the animal of worms that infest the 
rectum : but if the animal is infested with the long, round worm (teres), 
then half a pint of the above infusion must be given for a few mornings, 
before feeding. 

Another for worms : 

No. 37. 1 Ounce powdered lobelia, 

1 Handful wood ashes, 
3 Quarts boiling water. 

When cool, it is fit for use. 

VI. Infusions. 

These are made by steeping herbs, roots, and other medical substances 
in boiling water. No particular rules can be laid down as to the quantity 
of each article required. It will, however, serve as some sort of a guide, 
that we generally use from one to two ounces of the aromatic herbs and 
roots to every quart of fluid. A bitter infusion such as wormwood or 
camomile requires less of the herb. All kinds of infusions can be ren- 
dered palatable by the addition of a small quantity of honey or molasses. 
As a general rule, the human palate is a good criterion ; for if an infu- 
sion be too strong or unpalatable for a man, it is unfit for cattle or sheep. 

An infusion of either of the following articles is valuable in colic, both 
flatulent and spasmodic, in all classes of animals : caraway, peppermint, 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 783 

spearmint, fennel seed, angelica, bergamot, snake root, anise seed, 
ginseng, etc. 

Vn. Anti-spasmodics. 

By anti-spasmodics are meant those articles that assist, through their 
physiological action in relaxing the nervous and muscular systems. 

VIII. Fomentations. 

This class of remedies is usually composed of relaxants, etc., of seve- 
ral kinds, combined with tonics, stimulants, and anodynes. They are 
very useful to relieve pain, to remove rigidity, to restore tone, and to 
stimulate the parts to which they are applied. 

Common fomentation : 

NO. 38. 1 Part wormwood, 

1 Part tansy, 
1 Part hops. 

Moisten them with equal parts of boiling water and vinegar, and apply 
when blood warm. 

Use. — For all kinds of bruises and sprains. They should be confined 
to the injured parts, and kept moist with the superabundant fluid. Where 
it is not practicable to confine a fomentation to the injured parts, as in 
shoulder or hip lameness, constant bathing with the decoction will answer 
the same purpose. 

Anodyne fomentation : 

No. 39. 1 Handful of hops, 

1 Ounce white poppy heads, 
Equal parts water and vinegar. 

Simmer a few minutes. 

Use. — In all painful bruises. 

Relaxing fomentation : 

No. 40. 2 Ounces powdered lobelia, 

2 Quarts boiling water. 

Simmer for a few minutes, and when sufficiently cool, bathe the parts 
with a soft sponge. 

Use. — In all cases of stiff joints, and rigidity of the muscles. 

Cedar buds, or boughs, any quantity, to which add a small quantity of 
red pepper and ginger, with boiling water sufficient. 



784' ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Use. — Efficacious in chronic lameness and paralysis, for putrid sore 
throat, and when the glands are enlarged from cold and catarrh. 

IX. Mucilages. 

Mucilages are soft, bland substances, made by dissolving gum arable 
in hot water ; or by boiling marsh mallows, slippery elm, or lily roots, 
until their mucilaginous properties are extracted. A table-spoonful of 
either of the above articles, when powdered, will generally suffice for a 
quart of water. 

Use. — In all cases of catarrh, diarrhoea, inflammation of the kidneys, 
womb, bladder, and intestines. They shield the mucous membranes, 
and defend them from the action of poisons and drastic cathartics. 

X. Washes. 

Washes generally contain some medical agent, and are principally used 
externally. 

Wash for diseases of the feet : 

No. 41. i. Ounces pyroligenous acid, 

8 Ounces water. 

Use — This wash excels any other in point of efficacy, and removes rot 
and its kindred diseases sooner than any other. 
Cooling wash for the eye : 

No. 42. 1 Pint rain water, 

20 Drops acetic seed. 

Use. — In ophthalmia. 

Tonic and anti-spasmodic wash : 

No. 43. K Ounce camomile flowers, 

1 Pint boiling water. 

When cool, strain through fine linen. 

Use. — In chronic diseases of the eye, and when a weeping remains 
after an acute attack. 

Wash for unhealthy or ulcerated sores : 

A weak solution of soda or wood ashes. 

Wash for diseases of the skin : 

Take one ounce of finely-pulverized charcoal, pour on it one ounce of 
pyroligenous acid, then add a pint of water. Bottle, and keep it well 
corked. It may be applied to the skin by means of a sponge. It is also 
an excellent remedy for ill-conditioned ulcers. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 785 

Physic for cattle : 

No. 44. }4 Ounce extract of butternut (juglans cinerea), 

1 Tea-spoonful cream of tartar, 

2 Quarts boiling water. 

Mix. When cool, administer. 
Another : 

No. 45. Ji Ounce extract of blackroot (leptandra yirginica), 

1 Ounce Rochelle salts, 
% Tea-spoonful powdered ginger. 

Dissolve in two quarts of warm water. 
Another : 

No. 46. 1 Table-spoonful powdered mandrake, 

1 Tea-spoonful cream of tartar 

2 Quarts hot water. 

Here are three different forms of physic for cattle, which do not de- 
bilitate the system, like aloes and salts, because they determine to the 
surface as well as the bowels. They may be given in all cases where 
purges are necessary. One-third of the above forms will suffice for sheep. 

Mild physic for cattle : 

No. 47. 2 Ounces syrup of buckthorn, 

K Table-spoonful sulphur, 
K Tea-spoonful ginger, 
2 Quarts hot water. 



Aperient : 



No. 48. 1 Pint linseed oil, 

Yolks of 2 eggs. 



Mix. 

Another 



Mix. 



No. 49. 1 Pint sweet oil, 

hi Tea-spoonful powdered cayenne. 



A sheep will require about one-half of the above. 
Stimulating tincture : 

No. 50. 1 Pint boiling vinegar, 

2 Ounces tincture of myrrh, 

2 Teaspoonfuls powdered capsicum. 

Use. — ^For external application in putrid sore throat. 
Another : 



786 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 51. 4 Ounces tincture of camphor, 

yi Ounce oil of cedar, 
4 Ounces tincture of capsicum (hot drops). 

To be rubbed around throat night and morning. 

Stimulating tincture for chronic rheumatism : 

No. 62. 4 Ounces tincture of capsicum, 

1 Ounce oil of cedar, 
1 Ounce oil of wormwood, 
>i Pint vinegar, 
1 Gill goose grease. 

Mix. To be applied night and morning. The mixture should be kept 
in a well corked bottle, and shaken before being used. 

XI. Poultices. 

If a foreimi substance enters the flesh the formation of matter is a 
part of the process by which nature rids the system of the enemy. A 
poultice relaxing and lubricating will then be indicated. If, however, the 
foreign body shall have entered at a point where it is impossible to con- 
fine a poultice, then the suppurative stage may be shortened by the 
application of relaxing fomentations, and lastly by stimulants. 

Mr. Cobbett says of marsh mallow plant : It is among the most valua- 
ble that ever grew. Its leaves stewed, and applied wet, will cure, and 
almost instantly ease, any cut, or bruise, or wound of any sort. Poul- 
tices made of it will cure sprains ; fomenting with it will remove swellings ; 
applications made of it will cure chafes made l)y saddle and harness ; and 
its operation, in all cases, is so quick that it is hardl}' to be believed. 
Those who have this weed at hand need not put themselves to the trouble 
and expense of sending to doctors and farriers on trifling occasions. 

If the use of this weed was generally adopted the art and mystery of 
healing wounds, and of curing sprains, swellings, and other external 
maladies, would very quickly be reduced to an unprofitable trade. 

Lubricating and healing poultices : 

No. 53. T Part pnwdered marsh mallow roots, 

1 Part marsh mallow leaves. 

Moisten with boiling water, and apply. 
Use. — In ragged cuts, wounds and bruises. 
Stimulating poultice : 

No. 54. 1 Part Indian meal, 

1 Part slippery elm. 

Mix them together, and add sufficient boiling water to moisten the 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 787 

mass. Spread it on a cloth, and sprinkle a small quantity of powdered 
cayenne on its surface. 

Use. — To stimulate ill-conditioned ulcers to healthy action. Where 
there is danger of putrescence add a small quantity of powdered charcoal. 

Poultice for bruises : 

Nothing makes so good a poultice for recent bruises as boiled carrots 
or marsh mallows. 

Poultice to promote suppuration : 

Xo. 55 A sufficient quantity of Indian meal, 

1 Handful of linseed, 
1 Teaspoouful ot cayenne. 

To be moistened with vinegar and applied at the usual temperature. 

Styptics to arrest bleeding : 

Witch hazel, (Winter bloom,) bark or leaves, 2 ounces. 

Make a decoction with the smallest possible quantity of water, and if 
the bleeding is from the nose, throw it up by means of a syringe ; if 
from the stomach, lungs, or bowels, add more water, and let the animal 
drink it, and give some by injection. 

Styptic to arrest external bleeding : 

Wet a piece of lint with tincture of muriate of iron, and bind it on 
the part. 

There are various other styptics, such as alum w^ater, strong tincture 
of nutgalls, bloodroot, common salt, fine flour, etc. 

Absorbents : 

Absorbents are coniposed of materials partaking of an alkaline charac- 
ter, and are used for the purpose of neutralizing acid matter. The form- 
ation of an acid in the stomach arises from some derangement of the 
digestive organs, sometimes brought on by the improper quantity or 
qualit}^ of the food. It is useless, therefore, to give absorbents, with a 
view of neutralizing acid, unless the former are combined with tonics, or 
agents that are capable of restoring the stomach to a health}^ state. 

A mixture of chalk, salaratus, and soda is often given by farmers ; yet 
they do not afford permanent relief. They do some good by correcting 
the acidity of the stomach, but the .animals are often affected with 
diarrhea or costiveness, loss of appetite, colic, and convulsions. Atten- 
tion to the diet would probabl v do more good than all the medicine in the 
world. Yet, if they do get sick, something must be done. The best 
forms of absorbents are the following which have been very carefully selected. 
They restore healthy action to the lost function, at the same time that they 
neutralize the gas : 

Forms of absorbents : 



788 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 66. 1 Table-spoonful powdered charcoal, 

^ Table-spoonful powdered snakeroot, 
1 Tea-spoonful powdered caraways, 
1 Quart hot water. 

Mix. To be given at one dose for a cow ; half the quantity, or indeed 
one-third, is sufficient for a calf, sheep or pig. 
Another : 

No. 67. 1 Table-spoonful powdered charcoal. 

To be given in thoroughwort tea, to which may be added a very small 
portion of vinegar. 

Another, adapted to city use : 

No. 68. 1 Tea-spoonful sub-carbonate of soda, 

1 Ounce tincture of gentian, 

1 Pint Infusiou of spearmint. 

Mix. Give a cow the whole at a dose, and repeat daily, for a short 
time, if necessary. One-half the quantity will suffice for a smaller 
animal. 

Drink for coufirhs : 

No. 69. % Ounce balm of Gilead buds, 

2 Table-spoonfuls honey, 
1 Wine-glassful vinegar, 
1 Pint water. 

Set the mixture on the fire, in an earthen vessel ; let it simmer a few 
minutes. When cool, strain, and it is fit for use. Dose, a wine-glassful 
twice a day. 

Another : 

No. 60. 1 Ounce balsam copaiba, 

1 Ounce powdered licorice, 

2 Table-spoonfuls honey, 
1 Quart boiling water. 

Hub the copaiba, licorice and honey together in a mortar ; after they 
are well mixed, add the water. Dose, half a pint, night and morning. 
Another : 

No. 61. K Ounce balsam of Tolu, 

1 Ounce powdered marshmalloW roots, 
>i Gill honey, 

2 Quarts boiling Water. 

Mix. Dose, half a pint, night and morning. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 789 



Driuk for a cow after calving ; 



No. 62. 1 Ounce bethwort, 

1 Ounce marsbmallows. 



First make an infusion of bethwort by simmering it in a quart of 
water. WJien cool, strain, and stir in the mallows. Dose, half a pint, 
every two hours. 

Diuretic ; 

Bearberry (^uva ursi), is a popular diuretic, and is useful when com- 
bined with raarshmallows. When the urine is thick and deficient in 
quantity, or voided with difficulty, it may be given in the following form ; 

No. 63. 1 Ounce powdered bearberry, 

2 Ounces powdered marsbmallows, 
2 Pounds Indian meal. 

Mix. Dose, half a pound daily, in the cow's feed. 

Eruption wash : 

Borax is a valuable remedy for eruptive diseases of the tongue and 
mouth. Powdered and dissolved in water, it forms an astringent, anti- 
septic wash. The usual form is ; 

No. 64. K Ounce powdered borax, 

2 Ounces honey. 
Mix. 

XII. Fumigations. 

For foul barns and stables, take, 

No. 65. 4 Ounces common salt, 

l>i Ounce manganese. 

Let these be well mixed, and placed in shallow earthem vessel ; then, 
pour on the mixture, gradually, sulphuric acid, four ounces. The inha- 
lation of the gas which arises from this mixture is highly injurious ; 
therefore, as soon as the acid is poured on, all persons should leave the 
building, which should immediately be shut, and not opened again for 
several hours. Dr. White, V.S., says, "When glanderous or infectious 
matter is exposed to it a short time, it is rendered perfectly harmless." 

Ulceration of the mouth : 

A strong infusion of goldthread (coptis trifolia), makes a valuable 
application for eruptions and ulcerations of the mouth. We use it in 
the following form : 



790 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

>io. 66. 1 Ounce goldthread, 

1 Pint boiling water. 

Set the mixture aside to cool ; then strain, and add a table-spoonful of 
honey, and bathe the parts twice a day. 

Astringent ; 

Kino is a powerful astringent, and may be used in diarrhea, dysentery, 
and red water, after the inflammatory symptoms have subsided. We occa- 
sionally use it in the following form for red water and chronic dysentery : 

No. 67. 20 Grains powdered kino, 

1 Quart thin flour gruel. 

To be given at a dose, and repeated night and morning, as occasion 
requires. 

Simple cough remedy : 

The following makes an excellent cough remedy : 

No. 68. 1 Ounce powdered licorice, 

1 Tea-spoonful balsam of Tolu, 

1 Quart boiling water. 

To be given at a dose. 

Antacid for hoven : 

Lime water is used in diarrhoea, and when the discharge of urine is 
excessive. Being an antacid, it is very usefully employed when cattle 
are hoven or blown. It is unsafe to administer alone, as it often de- 
ransres the digestive organs ; it is therefore very properly combined with 
tonics. The following will serve as an example : 

No. 69. 2 Ounces lime water, 

2 Quarts infusion of snakehead (balmony), 

.• Dose, a quart, night and morning. 

XIII. Tincture for Wounds. 

Myrrh makes an excellent tincture for wounds, prepared as follows : 

No. 70. 2 Ounces powdered myrrh, 

1 Pint proof spirits. 

Set in a close covered vessel for two weeks, then strain through a fine 
seive, and bottle for use. It should be always kept on hand. 

Opodeldoc : 

Used for strains and bruises, after the inflammatory action has some- 
what subsided. 



CATTLE, THEIR DISEASES. 791 

Liquid opodeldoc ; 

No. 71. 6 Ounces soft soap, 

1 ki Pints New England rum, 
^ Pint vinegar, 
2 Ounces oil of lavender. 

The oil of lavender should first be dissolved in an equal quantity of 
alcohol, and then added to the mixture. 

Mucilages for catarrh, etc. : 

We have given pleurisy root, (asclepias tuberosa), a fair trial in cattle 
practice, and find it to be invaluable in the treatment of catarrh, bron- 
chitis pleurisy, pneumonia and consumption. Take : 

No. 72. )4 Table-spoonful powdered pleurisy root, 

1 Ounce powdered marshmallow roots. 

Boiling vv^ater sufficient to make a thin mucilage. The addition of a 
small quantity of honey increases its diaphoretic properties. 

For eruptive diseases : 

The bark of sassafras root is stimulant, and possesses alterative prop- 
erties. Used in connection with sulphur, for eruptive diseases, and for 
measles in svrine, in the following proportions, it will be found valuable : 

No. 73. 1 Ounce powdered sassafras, 

1-2 Table-spoonful powdered sulphur. 

Mix, and divide into four parts, one of which may be given night and 
morning, in a hot mash. 



PART V. 
Sheep and Sheep Husbandry. 

ORIGIN, breeds, characteristics 
AND MANAGEMENT. 



SHEEP AND SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



CHAPTER I. 



ORIGIN, PRINCIPAL BREEDS AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



COSMOPOLITAN NATURE OF SHEEP. LONG-WOOLED SHEEP. 1. LEICESTER. 

11. BORDER LEICESTER. III. COTSWOLD. — GOOD QUALITIES OF COTSWOLDS. 

— COTSWOLDS IN THE WEST. IV. LINCOLN SHEEP. V. NEW OXFORDSHIRE 

SHEEP, VI. MIDDLE WOOLED SHEEP. VII. CHEVIOT SHEEP. VIII. 

WHITE-FACED HIGHLAND SHEEP. IX DORSET SHEEP. X. SOUTHDOWNS. 

XI. HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. XII. SHROPSHIRE DOWNS. XIII. OXFORD 

DOWNS. FINE WOOLED SHEEP. XIV. AMERICAN MERINOS. THE 

FLEECE.-^ THE HEAD. THE BODY. THE MOST PROFITABLE SHEEP. 

DIVISIONS OF WOOL. 

Cosmopolitan Nature of Sheep. 

Where sheep originated is a question difficult to answer. They are the 
first of the animals domesticated by man, and reasonably so, since they 
supply the two principal wants of the barbarian, food and clothing. 
They are found in every inhabited country, not entirely savage, from the 
Arctic to the Torrid zone. 

To show the great diversity in character of sheep, it is only necessary 
to quote the classification of Linnaeus, which is : The Hornless, Horned, 
Black-faced, Spanish, Many-horned, African, Guinea, Broad-tailed, Fat- 
rumped, Bucharian, Long-tailed, Cap-bearded, and Bovant. To these 
may be added the Siberian sheep of Asia, found also in Corsica and 

793 



794 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Barbary and the Cretan sheep of the Grecian Islands, Hungary, and 
some portions of Austria, and we have about all the principal species. 




POINTS OF SHEEP. 



Explanation — ^ — Face. B — Muzzle. C — Neck. D — Shoulder. E — Point 
of the Shoulder. F — Breast. G — Girth-place. - H — Back. / — Loin. K— 
Rump. X— Thigh, i)/— Hip. iV^— Root of tail. 

Notwithstanding the fact that sheep are among the principal sources of 
wealth of all peoples, it is only among enlightened nations that they have 
reached their highest development; and among these, Spain, France, 
Germany, Great Britain and her colonies, and the United States may be 
mentioned as those where systematic breeding have produced the most 
practical results. In no country has this been attained in the production 
of fine wool, to a more excellent degree than among what are now known 
as American merinoes, the result of scientific breeding of the Spanish 
sheep. From present appearances, it will be but a few years before we 
shall excel in the production of long-wooled, and mutton sheep. The 
United States has of course, no native sheep, if we except the Ovu 
■Montana, which really is a sheq) and not a goat ( Capra) as many per- 
sons suppose . It inhabits the highest ranges of the Rocky Mountains from 
well north down to New Mexico. The hair, for it is not wool, although 
it is crimped, resembles the hair of the elk— is coarse, but soft to the 
touch, and slightly crimped throughout its length ; about two inches long 
on its back, and on the sides one and a half inches. We believe they 
have never been bred in confinement. In passing it may be interesting to 
our readers to know that at the Paris Exhibition of 1865 there were 
exhibited the wild sheep of Barbary, Ovis Tragelapus, more resembling 



SHEEP. DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



795 



a goat than our wild species. There were also shown there the Punjaub 
wild sheep, Ovis Cydoceras, a native of Northern India, and the Euro- 
)>ean niouffloi), OviH Musimon, belonging to Corsica and Sardinia, but 




both bred in confinement. As illustrating something of the characteristics 
of the wild sheep, as well as to illustrate points the cut we give on 
preceding page may serve as an example. 



796 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Long-wooled Sheep. 

There are but a few kinds of long-wooled sheep that have held their own 
in the improvement of the race for the last 100 years, sufficiently to be 
widely disseminated in the United States. These are the Leicester, Cots- 
wold, Lincoln and Romney Marsh. Of these, Leicester, as improved by 
Bake well and succeeding breeders, has perhaps exercised a more potent 
effect in crossing than any other of the long-wooled varieties. They fat- 
ten very kindly, and the best wethers will weigh at twelve to fifteen 
months old from 20 to 25 pounds per quarter, and at two years old from 
30 to 38 pounds per quarter. The fleeces are valuable as long combing 
wool, and will weigh from 7 to 8 pounds each. 



msmmm 




LEICESTEB EAM. 



I. Leicesters. 

This breed is pure white, tolerably hardy, without horns, the head 
small and clean, eyes bright, neck and shoulders square and deep, the 
back straight, carcass full, hind-quarters tapering to the tail, legs clean, 
with fine i3one, flesh succulent in quality, not the best, being much too 
fat for American palates ; nevertheless, the grades make good meat with 
the single exception of possessing too much outside fat. Leicesters 
require "the best of care and shelter, and of course good feeding. The 
ewes are not the best of mothers, and the young lambs require special 
attention- The wool is among the most valuable of any, being in especial 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 797 

request for combing, and will average seven pounds per head in good 
flocks. 

The Leicesters are well thought of in many parts of the West, and are 
increasino" in popularity. The true type of the breed is as follows : The 
licad should be hornless, long, small, tapering toward the muzzle, and 
[)rojecting horizontally forward. The eyes prominent, but with a quiet 
expression. The ears thin, rather long, and directed backward. The 
neck full and broad at its base, where it proceeds from the chest, so that 
there is, with the slightest possible elevation, one continued horizontal 
line from the rump to £he poll. The breast broad and round, and no un- 
even or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the 
back ; particularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situation 
of these bones. The arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down 
to the knee. The bones of the leg small, standing wide apart ; no loose- 
ness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool. The chest and 
l)arrel at once deep and round, the ribs forming a considerable arch from 
the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is in good 
condition, to make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the 
depth. The barrel ribbed well home ; no irregularity of line on the back 
or belly, but on the sides ; the carcass very graduall}^ diminishing in 
width toward the rump. The quarters long and full, and, as with the 
fore-leofs, the muscles extendino; down to the hock ; the thiirhs also wide 
and full. The les-s of a moderate lensth ; the skin also moderatelv thin, 
but soft and elastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool. 

II. Border Leicester. 

The infusion of the blood, of the Dishley, or new Leicester as they 
were called, but w^hich are now classified simply as Leicester sheep, upon 
the border flocks of England, gave rise to a sub-family, known as Border 
Leicester, and which have won a distinct position in English show yards. 
Their good and bad characteristics are as follows ; The most marked 
feature in their structure, is the smallness of their heads, and of their 
bones generally, as contrasted with the weight of carcass. The}' are clean 
in the jaws, with a full eye, thin ears, and placid countenance. Their 
backs are straight, broad and flat ; the ribs arched, the belly carried very 
light, so that they present nearly as straight a line beloAv as above ; the 
chest wide, the skin very mellow, and covered with a beautiful fleece of 
long, soft wool, which weighs, on the average, from six to seven pounds. 
On good soils, and under careful treatment, the sheep are usually brought 
to weigh from eighteen to twenty pounds a quarter at fouajteen months 



798 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



old, at which age they are now generally slaughtered. At this age theii 
flesh is tender and juicy, but when carried on until they are older and 
heavier, fat accumulates so unduly in proportion to the lean meat as to 
detract from its palatableness and market value. This fat accunmlation 
on mature animals is pretty constant in all the large and improved breeds. 




III. Cotswold Sheep. 

The Cotswolds were imported into the United States about 1832, since 
which time they have been reinforced from time to time by successive 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



799 



importations, and now stand in the West, in the front rank of long- 
wooled sheep. 

This is one of the hirgest English breeds, though the improved race is 
smaller than the originals, on account of the influence of the Leicester 
element in its amelioration. As a breed, it is of great antiquity. It has 
gained in fleece and form, and comes to macurity earlier; is more prolific 
than the Leicester, and has greater strength of constitution ; is often fat- ^^ 
tened at fourteen months, yielding fifteen to twenty pounds of mutton 
per quarter, and twenty to thirty, if kept till two 3^ears old. They have 
a large head, but well set on, a broad chest, a well-rounded barrel, and a 
straight back. They are often used for crossing upon other breeds, and 
for obtaining earlier market-lambs, both in this country and in Europe. 
They are more widely disseminated in this country than any other long- 
wooled breed, and preserve well the popularity which they have attained 
here. Some imported sheep of this breed have borne fleeces in this 
country of eighteen pounds. A great weight when we remember that the 
wool shrinks comparatively little in washing. 




SHEARED COT6WOLD KA.M. 



The Cotswolds have been extensively crossed with Leicester sheep in 
England, by which their size has been somewhat diminished, but theii 
carcass notably improved, and in addition, earlier maturity has been 
attained. The wool is strong, mellow and of good color, though rather 
coarse, 6 to 8 inches in length, and from 7 to 8 pounds per fleece. 

Good Qualities of Cotswolds. 



The superior hardihood of the improved Cotswold over the Leicestei , 



800 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



and their adaptation to common treatment, together with the prolific 
nature of the ewes, and their abundance of milk, have rendered them in 
many places rivals of the new Leicester, and has obtained for them of late 
years, more attention to their selection and general treatment, under 
which management still further improvement appears very probable. The 
quality of the mutton is superior to that of the Leicester, the tallow being 
less abundant, with a larger development of muscle or flesh. The ewes 
are prolific, and good mothers and nurses. 




OoTSWOLD Sheep. 
Cotswolds in the West. 



Throughout the entire West, the Cotswold has become a most favorite 
breed, and this not only on account of their long, handsome fleeces, 
specially adapted to the purpose of combing wool, but from the kindli- 
ness with which they take to our keep and climate. For this reason we 
have given this breed special prominence in our illustrations. It is not 
our province to go into long dissertations or detailed description, it Avould 
take too nmch space, and be productive of no good end. The illustra- 
ti(His we give will furnish a better index of value and characteristics. 
The cut on next page will show the appearance at one year old. 

In relation to the adaptability of this breed South, a prominent Clark 
county, Virginia, farmer says : It is far more profitable to keep the dif- 
ferent varieties of mutton breeds, than the fine wools, or Merino breed in 
this portion of Virghiia. I say this from my own experience, and that 
of many intelligent gentlemen with whom I have conversed. The Cots- 
ivold sheep, and its crosses, with the Southdown are less liable to diseases 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



801 



of all kinds ; they are more prolific, better nurses, and less liable to lose 
their lambs than the Merino. The lambs are more vigorous and hardy ;, 




YEARLING COT3WOLD. 



then add their early maturity, their fitness for market at 18 months old, 
and their almost double value when in market, and you have advantages 











which far outweigh the additional amount of food which the mutton 
sheep may consume in proportion to his size. There is one thing in con- 



802 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



iiection with all the long-wooled and large breeds of sheep that may be 
appropriately mentioned here : they cannot be kept in large flocks, like 
the smaller and fine-wooled breeds. Merinoes are often kept in flocks of 
1,000 or more in the far West. The long-wooled, the middle-wools and 
the mutton breeds are especially adapted for farmers, when both mutton 
and wool are the considerations, and are seldom herded together in fields 
exceeding one hundred. 

Thus in all the better settled portions of the West and South, where 
pasture and grain are abundant, and where the nearness to market affords 
sale for the mutton, the long wools are increasing in numbers from year 
to year, and with profit to the breeders and feeders, as well as in the just 
appreciation of those who consume the flesh. 

IV. Lincoln Sheep. 

The Lincoln sheep are both larger and heavier than either the Leicester 
or Cots wold, and are bred to a limited extent in the United States. The 
first importation was made in 1835. They are hardy, large feeders, 
prolific, yield fleeces of from 6 to 10 pounds each, and the carcasses have 
been known to dress 125 pounds. 

v. New Oxfordshire Sheep. 




NEW OXFOKDSUIRB KWK. 



This breed should not be confounded with the Oxford Downs, a cross 
breed between Cotswold and Hampshire Downs, and which have dark 
faces. They are less hardy than the Cotswolds, and have not made much 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



803 



progress in the United States. They are the result of a cross between 
the New Leicester and Cotswold, the latter blood being in excess. 
However they may be regarded in England, and they are regarded highly, 
they have not become popular in the West, as against the Cotswold. 
On the preceding page, we give a cut of a New Oxfordshire ewe, to 
close the subject of improved long wools in the United States as em- 
bracing the more prominent breeds. 

VI. Middle- Wooled Sheep. 

The Black-faced Scotch Highland sheep are small, active and docile 
when we consider that they are a purely mountain race. They stand 
great hardship, and work kindly in large flocks, subsisting on scanty fare 
when necessary. Hence they may be valuable in cold and mountain 
regions of the United States, for crossing on other breeds. They have 
open hair}^ fleeces, and black faces, weigh to average 65 pounds, and will 
shear about 3 pounds of clean wool. Their mutton is of most excellent 
quality, and crossed on larger breeds their fleeces will go to 6 or 8 pounds 
and their live weight to 128 pounds for wethers. 




BLACK-FACED HIGHLAND SHEEP. 



VII. Cheviot Sheep. 



This is another mountain breed that has been introduced, to a small 
extent in the United States. Their fleeces however, are too coarse for 
carding wool. They are less hardy than the black-faced highlands, but 



804 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



are quiet and docile, easily managed, giving fleeces averaging about 3 1-2 
pounds, furnishing good mutton, weighing 12 to 18 pounds per quarter, 
at three years old. 

VIII. White-faced Highland Sheep. 



^^L 




HIGHLAND SHEEP. 



This is a sheep of great hardiness, furnishing good mutton, but not a 
wool of much value, and is introduced only as necessary to illustrate a 
breed adapted to sterile regions, where better breeds would not survive. 
Many such regions are found in our own land, especially in the Rocky 
Mountain sections, where the trial of this race might well be made. 

IX. Dorset Sheep. 

Dorsetshire has a breed peculiar to itself. Strong, active, and well 
able to take care of itself : heavier in every respect than the highlands, 
and like this breed, a strong homed race. On this account, neither of 
these breeds would be considered valuable, except in regions where the 
better fleeced breeds would not live. The cut is given like that of the 
highland long horned family, as affording possible value=;n Alpine regions. 
Fortunately there is but little country of this nature on this v^estern continent. 
And yet there are rigorous climates, where tliis breed would undoubtedly 
thrive and make a good return to its cultivator. The experiment may be 
made with much hope of success. 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. g()5 

Short-wooled English Breeds. 
Of the mutton breeds, the Downs undoubtedly stand at the head in 




DOBSET RAM. 



both England and America. They are all compact, hardy, docile, horn- 
less, and of early maturity in feeding ; and with flesh of most excellent 
quality, that always commands the best price in any market. 



X. Southdowns. 




SOUTHDOWN RAM. 



These are without doubt the most superior, taken as a whole, of any 
of the mutton breeds, and have for many years been bred with the greatest 



5] 



806 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



care in both England and America. Their faces and legs are dark brown, 
the fore quarters wide and deep, the back and loin broad, with round 
bodies, and square and full hind quarters. 

The ewes axe prolific, producing from 120 to 140 lambs, to the flock of 
100 ewes. The staple of the wool is fine and curled, with spiral ends well 
adapted to carding, and will shear on yearling rams and wethers, from 6 
to 9 pounds. In the neighborhood of large cities, where there is a demand 
for mutton, they are most valuable as a distinct breed, or for crossing 
with the cmmon sheep of the countr3\ 




HAMPSHIRE DOWN. 



XI. Hampshire Downs. 

This breed had its rise in Hampshire, through an infusion of Southdown 
bi'ood, followed later with Cots wold, and of course, since the Cots wold 
have an infusion of Leicester, they have this blood also. It has given 
them increased size, more wool, and at the same time they have preserved 
their great hardiness of constitution. For many years they have been 
bred pure, and so far as introduced into the United States, they have 
given satisfaction, especially in the South, where, before the war, they 
were in good repute. Those who have used them, claim that they are 
more hardy than Southdowns. It is also claimed that they have been 
crossed upon Cotswold and Leicester grades, with benefit to both, and 
this we do not doubt, where mutton was to be the object. 

XII. Shropshire Downs. 

Of late years this breed has grown into repute in the West, and in 
Canada. They are heavy sheep, nearly as large as the Cotswold, yield 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BKEEDS. 



807 



nearly as much wool, with thick compact fleeces, are hardy and healthy, 
have even, compact, uniformly symmetrical bodies, with dark brown 
faces and limbs, and are about one third heavier than Southdowns. 



Xni. Oxford Downs, 

This comparatively new family, which has come into prominence in the 
United States within the last twenty years, was originally made by cross- 
ing the Hampshire or Southdown ewe with a Cotswold ram. They are easy- 
fattening sheep, producing mutton of superior quality, with fleeces of 8 to 10 
pounds for ewes and 12 to 13 pounds for rams, and in length from seven to 
eight inches; a wool of good Ulster; neither hairv nor harsh. 




OXFORDDOWNSHIBE RaM . 

In reality the only reason why these sheep should be called Downs, is, 
from their dark legs and faces. They really are not a short-wooled 
breed, in fact, as we have shown, they are a long-wooled race, and the 
characteristic has been carefully cultivated by breeders of this variety of 
sheep. In color, they are much lighter than the Southdown, their faces 
and legs being gray, instead of brown. The ewes are prolific, producing 
with good care, 150 lambs to the 100 ewes. They herd close together. 



808 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



are not particular about their feed ; they mature early, and upon hill 
pastures produce mutton of high quality. 

XIV. Fine-Wooled Sheep.— American lilerinos. 

In treating of fine-wooled sheep, it will not be necessary to go into their 
history. It is enough to say that Spain and France have contributed 
from time to time their best specimens, which, under such management 
as that given by Mr. Jarvis, — selecting from five families of Spanish 
sheep, the Paulars predominating, — produced what was known as the 
mixed Leonese or Jarvis Merinos. In 1813 Mr. Atwood commenced the 
breeding of pure Merinos, from what was then known as the Humphrey 
stock. About 1844, Edwin Hammond, of Middlebury, Vermont, com- 
menced breeding, taking for his stock selections from the Atwood family. 
To the judgment and skill of Mr. Atwood, and later followed by Mr. 
Hammond and other American breeders, we have seen produced what 
have been known distinctly as American Merinos ; perfect in all that 




GROUP OF AMERICAN MERINOS. 

goes to constitute length and thickness of wool, evenness and fineness of 
staple, that looseness of skin which, while it lies in low, rounded, soft 
ridges over the body, offers no obstruction to the shears. These were 
the points sought, and for the last twenty years well met and sustained 
by the best breeders. East and West ; so that we now have as thoroughly- 
established, the descendants of the Infantado — ^large and of good length, 
and the descendants of the Paulars, a smaller breed, originally established 
in the United States by Mr. Silas Rich and his son, of Shoreham, Ver- 
mont. Thus making two well marked families, which it is altogether 
probable would be injured by the infusion of foreign blood. 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 809 

The Fleece. 

The fleece is the important point in Merinos ; they are not mutton 
sheep, and their carcass is of secondary importance. Dr. Randall, nearly 
twenty years ago, in his work entitled "The Practical Shepherd," in 
writing of American Merinos, as they then were, says: "The greatest 
attainable combination of length and thickness of wool, of given quality, is 
the first to be regarded in a market where all lengths are in equal demand. 
And the more evenly this length and thickness extend over every covered 
part, unless below the knees and hocks, the higher the excellence of the 
animals." 

It is in this point especially that the modern breeder has improved on 
his predecessors ; and it is this, in a very considerable degree, which gives 
the improved American Merino its vast superiority in weight of fleece, 
over all other fine sheep, of the same size, in the world. 

Wool of full length below the knees and hocks would hardly be 
desirable, on account of its liability to become filthy ; but a thick short- 
ish coat, particularly on the hind legs — making them appear as large "as 
a man's arm" — is regarded by many as a fine, showy point, though it 
does not add much to the value of the fleece. 

The Head. 

The wool should extend in an unbroken and undivided mass from the 
back of the neck over the top of the head and down the face for an inch 
or two below the eyes, and there abruptly terminate in a square or 
rounded shape ; it should cover the lower side of the jaws nearly to the 
mouth, and rise on the cheeks so as to leave only the front face bare, 
terminating abruptly like the forehead wool. The cheek and forehead 
wool should meet unbroken, immediately over the eye, between it and the 
ear. But it must by no means unite under the eye — though its outside 
ends may touch there for a little way. The eye should have just naked 
space enough about it to leave the sight unimpeded, without any resort 
to the scissors. 

The nose should be covered with short, soft, thick, perfectly white 
hair. Pale, tan-colored spots or "freckles" about the mouth, and the 
same color on the outer half of the ear are not objected to by the breed- 
ers of the Paulars — but Infantando breeders usually prefer pure white. 
Wool on the lower part of the face, as is often seen on the French 
Merinos, whether short or long, is regarded as decidedly objectionable, 
and any wool which obstructs the sight in any degree, is a fault. 

Those who otow such fleeces now need not be ashamed to exhibit 
to-day in the best show rings of the country. 



SIO 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



The Body. 



The frame upon which the wool is to grow is important, for upon form 
and constitutional vigor depends the value of the animal. Below we 
give an illustration of a ram that would leave little to be desired, so far 
as ability to jiroduco the best wool is concerned. 




MERINO RAM. 



Medium size, for the family, will hold in sheep as well as in other 
animals. An overgrown animal is not profitable in am^ breed. The 
bod}' should be round, deep, of moderate length, the head and neck 
ehort and thick, back straight and broad, the legs short, straight, but 
•well apart and strong, giving a deep full bosom and buttock. The fore- 
arm ample, and the junction of the thighs well down the hocks. The 
skin should be rather thin ; mellow, elastic, and loose. If it be thick and rigid, 
it will evidence a bad feeder, and consequently inferior wool. 

The Most Profitable Sheep. 

Of all the breeds of sheep ever introduced into the United States, the 
Merino has more than held its own in the estimation of breeders every- 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



811 



where. Even in the neighborhood of our large cities, to-day, there are 
more grade Merinos sold for mutton, than of all the mutton breeds, dis- 
tinctively. It is only near our great cities that the breeding and feeding 
of Cotswold, Leicester, and the Downs, could be made profitable, and 
this has mainly come about through the change in wearing apparel. Since 
the fashion came about among both ladies and gentlemen, of wearing 
garments of medium wool, a strong impetus has been given to the breed- 
ing of the Downs, and long wooled breeds. They are more tender and 




MERINO EWE. 



delicate in their constitution, cannot stand extremes of cold and heat, as 
the Merinos ; cannot shift for themselves as well, and for the reason that 
they cannot be kept in large flocks, are only suitable to small farms, in 
thickly settled districts, where good shelter and succulent food may be 
obtained. Thus the Merinos, and their grades and crosses will always be 
found the most profitable in all that great region West and Southwest, 
and in much of the country South, where the flocks to be profitable must 
number from one thousand to many thousands. 



Division of Wools. 



Most persons suppose that the wool of a sheep is uniform in quality. 
Such, however, is not the fact. As showing divisions and quality of wool, 
we give a cut of sheep with divisions accurately numbered, which shows 
points in the pure Merino and Saxon, and where the different qualities of 



812 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



the wool are found. Some grades of sheep will often exhibit seven or 
eight qualities in the same fleece, whereas unalloyed breeds show but four 
qualities. The refina, or pick wool, (1) begins at the withers, and 
extends along the back, to the setting on of the tail. It reaches only a 
little way down on the quarters, but dipping down at the flanks, takes in 
all the superior part of the chest, and the middle of the side of the neck 
to the angle of the lower jaw. The fina, (2) a valuable wool, but 




m^ 



DIVISION OF WOOL. 



not SO deeply secreted, or possessing so many curves as the refina, occu- 
pies the belly, and the quarters and thighs, down to the stifle joint ; 
(3) is found on the head, the throat, the lower part of the neck, and 
the shoulders, terminating at the elbow, forelegs, and reaching from the 
dtifle to a little below the hock ; (4) is procured from the tuft that 
grows on the forehead and cheeks, from the tail, and from the legs below 
the hock. 



CHAPTER I? 



BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



WATCHFULNESS NECESSARY. HOW TO BREED. TIME FOR BREEDING. ■ 

COUPLING. KEEPING THE RECORD. THE MANAGEMENT OF RAMS. 

TRAINING RAMS. PASTURING SHEEP. SHADE IN PASTURES. WATER. 

DOSING SHEEP. • FALL PASTURAGE AND FEEDING. SHEEP BARNS. 

SPECIAL WINTER FOOD. MANAGEMENT OF LAMBS. DOCKING LAMBS. 

CASTRATION. WEANING. THE NURSERY. 

• Watchfulness Necessary. 

The fecundity of sheep soon enables the breeder to gather a flock. 
To keep them healthy is one of the most difficult problems of the breeder, 
since they are generally kept in large flocks, and herding closely together 
as they do, if an epidemic or contagious disease gets among them, it 
surely goes through the whole flock unless the shepherd is ever vigilant. 
The lack of care and vigilance causes more than half the losses in sheep, 
and hence, no person should undertake sheep breeding unless he make 
up his mind that they are to have not only gentle treatment but daily 
care and watchfulness, even in the Summer. 

How to Breed. 

The ewe may be bred to the buck at the age of eighteen months, and 
the buck will be fit for service at the same age. If the object be to breed 
grades, it will be found to "be money squandered to buy an inferior buck, 

813 



814 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

whatever his blood may be. So, if to save a few dollars, the breeder se- 
lect a grade buck for breeding purposes, the money is as good as thrown 
away. One buck if properly kept will serve one hundred ewes, so that 
the cost per lamb is really light. Thus in breeding grades, pursue the 
same course as advised for cattle. Select a good staunch ram, of well 
known purity of blood, avoiding the excessively high priced animals that 
are simply the best breeders of pure bloods. Such an one may be bred 
to the common stock of the country, and to hfs own progeny, to the third 
generation. As a rule the sire will give the leading characteristics of 
form, size, length and density of fleece and its yolkiness, he will do this 
eminently in proportion to the purity of his blood. The fineness and 
principal characteristics will be probably controlled by the dam. Hence 
the importance of none but the best sires. 

In crossing, the Merino may be bred upon the common ewes of the 
country, always with benefit to the fleece, and never at the expense of the 
carcass. So the Southdown will improve them in mutton and wool. The 
Cotswold and Leicester will give increased size, early maturity and length 
of staple. To breed Merinos on any of the long wooled varieties would 
be useless. It would detract from the valuable qualities of the wool of 
either, reduce the value of the mutton, the size, propensity to fatten, and 
prolific qualities of the long wool. In the West the sheep for money are 
either pure Merinos, or pure Merino rams bred unto the common sheep 
of the country, with the exception before stated, where farms are small 
and near markets where prime mutton is in demand. 

Time for Breeding. 

The average period of gestation in the sheep does not vary much from 
one hundred and fifty-two days. They usually carry a male longer than 
a female, the period of gestation varying a week and sometimes two 
weeks. Therefore the shepherd can easily calculate when to have his 
ewes served by knowing when he wants his lambs in the Spring. This as 
a rule should be at the time of new grass in the Spring. Allowing that 
this occurs the first of March the ewes should begin to be served about 
the middle of September, and the season will then probably continue to 
the middle of October. If lambs for slaughter be the object then the 
ewes should be served fully a month earlier than usual, and extra shelter, 
warmed with fire heat provided for lambing time. This always pays. 
They are the early lambs that command the high prices in the important mar- 
kets of the country, and he who furnishes these must use proper means to 
anticipate his neighbors. 



SHEEP, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 815 

Coupling. 

We do not advise the use of teasers — that is, common rams aproned to 
show the rutting ewes. The better way is to drive the flock up to the 
yard twice a day and let the ram out with the flock. Immediately he has 
served a ewe catch and separate her from the flock. Keep all served ewes 
together, and under no consideratioD allow but one service. If they 
come again in heat it will be from the fourteenth to the seventeenth day. 
Thus they may be again returned to the ram after the thirteenth day, 
and if not in heat it may be set down that they have been properly 
served. 

Keeping the Record. 

In breeding grades it is only necessary to keep a correct record of the 
time of coupling, to correspond to the mark on the ewe. Where pure 
sheep are bred it will also be necessary to keep a record of the ram used. 
In the first case it is necessary to know when each ewe will drop her 
lamb. In the case of pure bred sheep it is imperative that a full and 
accurate record be kept, else confusion will ensue and the breeder will 
have lost all that was gained before him, and no breeder of pure sheep 
will buy from his flock. In order to bring the ewes into season at a 
specific time in seasons of drouth, or scant pasture, the ewes should have 
extra feed for three weeks before they are required to take the ram. 

The Management of Rams. 

The rams should never be allowed to run with the ewes at any season 
of the year. They are brutal always in their teasing, and if allowed so 
to run they not only exhaust themselves, but the ewes drop their lambs 
out of season. His separate enclosure should be dry and comfortable, 
and kept strictly clean, and be entirely away from the sight and hearing 
of the ewes, except when admitted to them. His feed must be the best 
of hay, or fresh grass, with what oats he will eat clean daily, beginning 
six weeks before the season with half a pound daily, and increasing the 
feed gradually to two pounds daily, if he will eat so much. Some flock 
masters sow oats and peas together, two bushels of the former to three 
pecks of the latter. This when threshed and ground together and fed, 
gradually increasing to a quart a day, makes most excellent feed for a 
hard-worked ram. On such feed, with pure water within reach at all 
times, a ram may be expected to properly serve one hundred to one 



816 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

hundred and fifty ewes, and but few of them should come back the 
second time. 

Never keep two rams in the same enclosure. They are essentially pug- 
nacious, and very often a valuable ram is thus sacrificed, through the 
mistaken economy of the owner. In the beginning of the season, a ram 
should not be allowed to serve more than two or at most three ewes a 
day. This may be gradually increased to five, and again towards the 
close of the season, he may be again only allowed two or three. To do 
justice and retain full power of fecundation, he must have a good amount 
of exercise. To insure this, if inclined to be inactive, he should be driven 
about the yard for an hour every day. As a last word of caution we add : 
Keep the rams away from the ewes in Winter. They often seriously in- 
jure them, and by their teasing are a cause of abortion, to say nothing of 
other serious injuries they may inflict. The best exj>!^vlence of sheep-raising 
confirms this rule. 

Training Kama. 

It is quite necessary that rams should be made to understand that any 
vice will be severely punished. They should be early trained to stand 
quietly when tied, to lead at the end oJ the halter. They should never 
be tied with a rope about the roots of the horns. It is apt to gall, and 
make lodgment for maggots. Fasten polled sheep by a strap about the 
neck, and horned breeds in the same manner while they are young. 
When their horns are large enough, drill a hole through the left horn, 
near the tip and put in a bolt with eye and two inch ring, the whole fas- 
tened with a nut. Never tease, or allow a ram to be teased. It is sure 
to make them vicious. Handle kindly and gently, yet with a firm hand. 
If inclined to be vicious, punish them severely and until they are 
thoroughly cowed. A vicious old ram is dangerous at all times. Some- 
times they become incorrigible ; when this is the case geld them at once. It 
is useless to waste time and patience on them. 

Pasturing Sheep. 

The flock should go in the pasture as early in Summer as possible, but 
should be housed nights, and during cold storms. They should be regu- 
larly salted, at least every other day, and when salted should be counted 
and examined for any ailment that may occur. The best shepherds count 
every day, and salt every day, graduating the doses so the sheep will eat 
it entirely clean ; and once or twice a week, giving a larger quantity. Care in 
salting, as in feeding, pays abundantly. Change of pasture and the utmost 
cleanliness of stabling place is always helpful. 



8HEEP, BKEEDINa AND MANACfEMENT. 817 

Sheep are eager for shade in warm weather. We do not believe in 
shading pastures with trees. It is better and cheaper to have sheds, 
open on all sides, and of ample size to shelter the flock. The covering 
may be of boughs, or anything that is cheap. We have used common 
factory muslin, stretched on a light frame, double pitched roof, with a 
two foot space at the peak, for the escape of wind ; the shed twelve feet 
wide and running north and south. This gives free ventilation, and is 
the coolest shade we know. 

Water. 

Water is not generally considered an absolute necessity to sheep when 

on pasture. Where they are allowed to graze when the dew is on the 

grass, or the gi*ass is succulent, they seem to get along pretty well. We 

like them, however, to have a chance at water once a day. In the case 

of ewes suckling lambs it is necessary that they have water in plenty. 

Absolute purity of water however is always indispensable. Sheep object 

to drinking foul water, and their instinct ought to satisfy any person that 

it is not fit for them. Many serious disorders to stock of all kinds are 

occasioned by drinking impure water. 

t 
Dosing Sheep. 

Wet, low, or mucky pastures are not fit for sheep. It is an entirely 
true adage that the sheep's foot must be kept dry ; nevertheless there 
are many sheep kept other than among firm, dry, hill pastures. Some 
shepherds are continually dosing with salt and alum, salt and sulphur, 
and various other compounds under the supposition that it tends to health. 
Give them what salt they need, always, and examine them often for 
disease. When they are well, however, let well enough alone. 

Pall Pasturage and Feeding. 

In the Autumn, as the season advances, sheep should have some 
fodder. It is the time of year when, if allowed to fail in flesh a mis- 
chief is done that cannot be remedied. There is a peculiarity about wool 
that one shepherd in twenty knows nothing about. To have a uniform 
growth, and of equal strength, the wool must grow steadily, as the 
season advances. If the sheep are allowed to fall suddenly away, the 
growth of wool ceases. WTien growth again commences, the wool, in- 
stead of continuing even in texture will have what is termed a joint. 
This is often so weak that very slight force will break it. The microscope 
will reveal every period of starvation and subsequent good feeding that 
Bheep may have experienced in the course of the year's growth of wool. 



818 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Thus the shepherd who would do well for himself must do well for his 
flock. He must not only feed and water well, and attend to the general 
health of the sheep, but he must house well. 

Sheep Barns. 

These need not be expensive structures, but they must protect thor- 
oughly against wind and drifting snow, and at the same time be well 
ventilated. The barn is to be entirely enclosed with doors and windows, 
which, if made to slide, will serve for ventilation. Along the peak 




CONVENIENT FEEDING TROUGH POK SHEEP. 

should be slatted chimneys of wood to assist ventilation. The stable 
should be divided into suitable pens to contain from twenty to fifty sheep 
each, according to the size of the flock, with doors from one to the other, 
racks for feeding hay, and troughs for grain, and for water also, if the 
sheep are to be wintered in the barn. There should also be suitable pas- 
sage ways for feeding, etc. The arrangement of these racks, troughs 
and other conveniences, will readily suggest themselves, by referring to 
the plan for feeding cattle in barns. There is to be no tying up, of 



SHEEP, DIFFERENT BREEDS. 



819 



course, but the same general arrangement may be followed, and when the 
basement of a barn is to be used, the hay, gram, etc., may be handled in 
the same manner as there given. There is one thing, however, indispen- 
sable : As an attachment to every sheep barn, each pen should have a 
yard in which the sheep may be turned out in pleasant weather, for air 
and exercise. They may also be fed here in pleasant weather. 

The annexed cut will show a good and substantia^ rack for outside 
feeding. 

Special Winter Food. 

While it is the fact that sheep may be fairly wintered on hay, it is not 
the most economical food in all the regions of the West and South, where 
corn and cereal grains are cheaply raised. Many shepherds object to 
corn as being too heating. We have never found any difficulty when it 
was fed with hay, and with a small feed of roots daily. It seems almost 
necessary to the health of sheep, that they have succulent food. In all 
the West, turnips are out of the question. Our hot Summers, and dry 
Autumns are not suited to this crop. Swedish turnips do better, since 
they may be sown late in May, or early in June and get root, so they 





ALLOWED TO SHIFT FOR ITSELF. 



WINTERED WITH GOOD SHELTER AND FEED. 



will stand and produce good crops late in Autumn. They are also easily 
saved by keeping them nearly down to the freezing point in the winter 
pits. Sugar beets or mangel wurzel may also be raised at Sf cost — placed 
in the pits or cellar — that need not exceed two dollars a ton. Carrots and 
parsnips may be raised at a cost not exceeding three dollars per ton. 
With carrots, beets and parsnips so that each sheep may have even half 
a pound weight of root food once a day, they may be kept in admirable 
health, corn and hay being the only other food. Not only this, but we 
have wintered lambs in this way, and had them come out Spring after 
Spring, in the most admirable condition.- Kept in this manner, they will 



820 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

look like the young buck, shown at the right hand side of the page. Al- 
lowed to shift for themselves as best they may, they will resemble the 
sheep shown on the left side of the page. Which would you choose? 

There is one thing that should be observed in feeding roots. Carrots 
may be fed at all times. In feeding other roots, feed the Swedish tur- 
nips first, and after they are gone, the beets. Beets fed early in the 
Winter I have not found profitable. They have an acrid quality, that 
after the new year seems to be lost. Parsnips may be kept in the ground 
until Spring, and will be found, in connection with grain, most excellent 
for ewes, after lambing. Until lambing time we prefer to feed carrots, 
and corn, with enough bran mixed to keep the bowels fairly open. Thus 
fed, the fleeces will be heavy and even in texture. The sheep will not 
shed their wool when put on to grass, and the shepherd, if he has attended 
to the general health of the flock, will find that sheep really pay twice ; 
once in the fleece, and once in the carcass. • 

Management of Lambs. 

It is absolutely necessary, when early lambs are expected, that a 
warm place be provided for the ewe at lambing time. The room need 
not be large, and may be divided into pens suitable for each ewe when 
there are a number to lamb at one time. Heat the room by means of a 
stove, and if the ewes are healthy and hearty they will take care of 
themselves as a rule. But the shepherd should be present in case the 
young lambs want assistance, and here will be found the advantage in 
having made the sheep perfectly familiar with and relying on the keeper, 
for thus there will be no fear displayed. If the lamb appear weak and 
disinclined to suck, handle it carefully and hold it to the dam. A young 
lamb is at first the weakest and most foolish animal imaginable. Once it 
has got on its feet and sucked it is all right. 

Docking Ijamibs. 

This should be performed as soon as the lamb is fairly strong and grow- 
ing ; say wheij a week old. Let an attendant pick up thelamb, and holding 
his rump pretty firm against a post of suitable height, the shepherd 
seizes the tail, and pressing the skin back toward the body, places a two 
inch chisel at the point of separation, holding it firmly enough so that it 
will not slip, when with a light blow of a mallet it is severed. Throw 
the tails of rams in one pile and those of ewes in another, and enter in 
the shepherd's book the sexes and numbers. It is well at the same time 
to place a paint mark on the rump for future recognition. A pinch of 



SHEEP, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 821 

powdered copperas on the end of the tail will stop bleeding. Occasionally 
a lamb will bleed severely. If so, tic a ligature tightly around the stump, 
to be removed in about ten hours, or a touch of red hot iron will be 
more effective. 

Castration. 

Many perform this operation immediately before docking. It has 
always been practiced by myself and I have never found any reason to 
discontinue the plan. In any event the sooner it is done the better for 
the lamb. I have docked and gelded at three days old, and with the best 
success. An attendant holds the lamb, rump down, and with the back 
pressed against his own body; drawing the hind legs up, the body is 
pressed strong enough to cause the belly to be forced between the thighs, 
and the scrotum is thus well exposed. Seizing the scrotum the operator 
cuts away one-third of it ; take each testicle in turn and sliding back and 
off the enveloping membrane, with a quick jerk the whole cord and 
connecting tissued snap and come away. The object in cutting away a 
part of the scrotum is that it makes a better surface in shearing. This 
pulling away of the cord may seem cruel. It is not so ; there is almost 
no bleeding, and the violence of the rupture deadens the pain. It is 
sometimes neces&ary to geld an old ram. The best way is to tie a waxed 
linen cord as tightly as possible about the bag, being careful that it is tied 
entirely above the testicles, and that there shall be no possibility of 
slipping of the knot. Thus circulation is stopped and in a few days the 
strangulated part will drop away ; or the operation may be performed 
precisely as in the case of the horse. We have however never used any 
other means either with bulls or rams than that indicated above, and with 
success. 

Weaning. 

Spring lambs should be weaned early enough in the Fall so they may 
become fully accustomed to grass and to grain before Winter sets in. If 
a corn-field has at the last cultivating been sown with rye, it will afford 
nice feed for lambs in the Fall, and in the following Spring it will be 
found most valuable for breeding ewes. If there is stubble ground, in 
which green oats or wheat have started, it makes excellent pasture for 
lambs, since they will also pick up some grain. In any event, they should 
be learned to eat grain by having their salt sprinkled on grain in a trough 
under cover, so they may learn to eat it. So far as Winter management 
is concerned, the same rule will apply as to other animals. Give them 
52 



822 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the best of the hay and a liberal quantity of grain, to keep them growing 
right along. 

The Nursery. 

In all large flocks there will always be some lambs that do not do well.* 
These should always be separated from the others and have extra care. 
So in the older sheep — the flock should be graded as to age, size and sex. 
It is better that the wethers and the ewes be kept apart, and that in the 
sexes that very strong animals be not put with weak ones. If they do 
no other mischief, they rob the weak ones of their food, the very thing 
they most need. In fact, every farm should have a nursery, however 
small the flock, where weak ones and wethers may receive special atten- 
tion and care. Sheep upon farms suited to them are very profitable, but 
however suitable the farm, the profits will be in direct proportion to the 
intelligent care and attention the animals receive. 



PART VI. 
Diseases of Sheep. 

CAUSE, PKEVENTIOK AND REMEDIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



ANATOMY AND DISEASES OP SHEEP. 



THE HBAD.- 



-THE TRUNK. 



-THE FORE-LEG. 



-THE HIND-LEG. - 



OP THE HEAD TO BREEDERS. — 
THE TEETH. SWELLED HEAD 



TION OF THE EYE.- 

DO. GRUBS IN THE HEAD 



-IMPORTANCE 

DISEASES OF THE HEAD AND BRAIN. 

VEGETABLE POISONING. INFLAMMA- 

SHEEP DISTEMPER. HOW TO KNOW IT. WHAT TO 



PREVENTION. 

JAW. PALSY. - 



— HOW TO SAVE THE SHEEP. APOPLEXY. 

— INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN. TETANUS, OR LOCK- 
RABIES. HYDATIOS ON THE BRAIN. PARASITES OP 

THE BODY AND SKIN. THE SCAB. HOW TO KNOW IT. WHAT TO DO. 

DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE AND URINARY ORGANS. DISEASES OP 

THE LIMBS AND HOOFS, FOOT ROT. HOW TO CURE IT. TOULS, AND 

TEAVEL-SORE FEET. GRAVEL. THE BIFLEX CANAL. MAGGOTY SHEEP. 

LUNG WORMS. INTESTINAL WORMS. ROTTEN LIVER; COLIC. 




SKELETON OP LEICESTER SHEEP. 

The Head. 



Explanation.— 1—Tbe intermaxillary bone. 2— The nasal bones. 3— The 



QOQ 



324 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

upper j.iw. 4 — The union of the nasal and upper jaw bone. 5 — The union of 

the raolai- and lachiyinal bones. 6 — Tlie orbits of the eye. 7 — The frontal 

bone. 9 — The lower jaw. 10 — The incisor teeth or nippers. 11 — The molars 
or grinders. 

The Trunk. 

1, 1 — The ligament of the neck, supporting the head. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 — 
The seven vertebrae, or bones of the neck. 1 — 13 — The thirteen vertebrae, or 
bones of the back. 1 — 6 — The six vertebrae of the loins. 7— The sacral bone. 
8— The bones of the tail, varying in different breeds from twelve to twenty -one. 
9 — The haunch and pelvis. 1 — 8 — The eight true ribs wiih their cartilages. 
9 — 13— The five false ribs, or those that are not attached to the breast bone. 
14 — The breast bone. 

The Fore-leg. 

1 — The scapula or shoulder-blade. 2 — The humerus, bone of the arm, or lower 
part of the shoulder. 3 — The radius, or bone of the forearm. 4 — The ulna, or 
elbow. 5 — The knee, with its different bones. 6 — The metacarpal, or shank- 
bones ; the latger bones of the leg. 7 — A rudiment of the smaller metacarpal. 
8 — One of the sessamoid bones. 9— The two first bones of the foot; the pas- 
terns. 10 — The proper bones of the foot. 

The Hind-leg 

1 — The thigh bone. 2 — The stifle joint and its bone, the patella. 8 — The 
tibia, or bone of the upper part of the leg. 4 — The point of the hock. 5— The 
other bones of the hock. 6 — The metatarsal bone, or bone of the hind-leg. 7 
— Rudiment of the small metatarsal. . 8 — A sessamoid bone. 9 — The two first 
bones of the foot, the pasterns. 10 — The proper bone of the foot. 

The bones of the loins bear a strong resemblance to those in the back, 
but instead of springing from the sides, as do the ribs, they are fixed, 
bony processes, several inches in length, and their peculiar duty is to af- 
ford protection to the abdomen. They are the timbers that support the 
roof, or covering of this part of the system. Next in position to the loin 
comes the sacrum, which is formed in young animals of separate bones, 
but at maturity is consolidated into one. At this point the passage for 
the spinal cord becomes very much diminished, and, at the end of the 
bone, terminates in several nerves, which continue their course into the 
tail. The bones of the latter are numerous, but not perforated. We 
pass now to the limbs, and find that the number of joints are the same in 
the horse, ox, and sheep, but in the latter animals, at the fetlock, these 
become divided and the four bones beneath it are thus doubled. 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 



825 




SKULL OF A POLLED SHEEP. 



The bone which forms the elbow-uhia does not support much of the 
weight of the animal, but serves to attach the powerful muscles, so notic- 
able in bones, with good fore-arms. The attachment of the ulna to the 
radius forms a lever. The carpas or knee is composed of seven distinci 
bones, placed in two rows. The upper row articulates with the radius ; 
the metacarpus. 

Explanation — 1 — Occipital bone, depressed 
«out of danger. 2 — The parietal bones, the 
suture having disappeared, and also out of 
danger. 3 — The squamous portions of the 
temporal bone — the buttress of the arch of 
the skull. 4 — The meatus auditorius, or 
bony ppening into the ear. 5 — The frontal 

bones. 6 — The openings through which blood-vessels pass, to sup- 
ply the forehead. 7 — The bony orbits of the eye. 8 — The zygo- 
matic or molar bones, very much developed. 9, 10 — The bones of 
the nose. 11 — The upper jaw bone. 12 — The foramen, through 
which the nerve and blood-vessels pass, to supply the lower part of the 
face. 13 — The nasal processes of the intermaxillary bones. 14 — The 
palatine processes. 15 — The intermaxillary bone, supporting the cartila- 
ginous pad, instead of containing teeth. 

Explanation — 1 — Nasall bone. 2 — 
Upper jaw bone. 3 — Intermaxillary 
bone supporting the pad, supplies the 
place of upper front teeth. 4, 4 — 
The frontal sinus. 5— Cavity or sinus 
of the horn, communicating with the 
frontal sinus. It is here shown by re- 
moval of a section of the base of the 
horn. 7 — The frontal bone. 8 — Verti- 
cal section of the brain. 9 — Vertical section of the cerebellum, a — 
The cineritious portion of the brain, b — The medullary portion of the 
brain. 10 — The ethmoid bone. 11 — The cril)iform or perforated plate 
of the ethmoid bone. 12 — The lower cell of the ethmoid bone. 13 
— The superior turbinated bone. 14 — The inferior turbinated bone. 17 
—The sphenoid bone. 




HEAD OF SHEEP— VERTICAL SECTION. 



Importance of the Head to Breeders. 



The head of the sheep is one of the important points by which to esti- 
mate the quality and profitableness of the animal. The frontal bone (1) 
projects both forward and laterally, and gives to the sheep a peculiar 



826 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

appearance as regards breadth of forehead and prominence of the eye. 
This design of nature is intended for the base of the horns, though m 
breeds known as hornless, or polled, the same formation is observable. 
The room from eye to eye is occasioned by the frontal bones (5, 5, of 
polled sl>eep) reaching as far below the range of vision as above it, and 
very materially shortening the nasal (10, 10,) bones. These reach up- 
ward to the parietal bones (2) which latter constitute an important portion 
of the posterior, slanting portion of the skull, just below the junction ofii 
the frontal and parietal bones ; the head falls off in fullness — a backward 
sloping, so to speak, and the part of the frontal bone most important be- 
cause covering the brain, is removed from the danger resulting from 
concussion of the head in fighting. The form of the brain in the sheep, 
is similar to that of the horse and ox, but is longer in proportion to size, 
and broader in the back than in the front. The brain of the sheep so 
closely resembles, in its conformation and structure, that of aman, though 
smaller in proportion, that it furnishes the medical student with a good 
substitute for the human subject. The membrane covering the brain is 
technically called the pia mater. The dura ma^er lines the skull, and be- 
tween the latter and the former is a delicate membrane called ternica 
arachmides. The nerves, of which ten pairs are connected with the brain, 
and thirty with the spinal cord, supply the sense of feeling, seeing, hear- 
ing, tasting, smelling, &c., and a portion conveying the voUtion of the 
brain to all parts of the body, are termed nerves of motion. 

Diseases of the Head and Brain. 

In Europe, and especially in Great Britain, sheep are subject to a long 
category of diseases. Fortunately, in this country sheep thus far have 
been subject to coniparativel}^ few diseases, and especially so in the West ; 
owing probably to the fact that, except in the Spring, and sometimes for 
a short period in the Autumn, the climate and the soil are dry. Mr. 
Spooner, the able English veterinary writer, remarks upon the rarity of 
inflammatory diseases in American sheep. This he attributes to the 
muscular and vascular structure of the sheep, comparing the indifferently 
kept sheep of his day with highly fed British sheep. The real cause, 
however, of exemption from disease lies more in the climate than anything 
else. Another special reason probably is that our flock masters are, as a 
rule, men of intelligence, who trust but little to ignorant shepherds, as 
is not the case in Great Britain and on the continent. We shall therefore 
touch lightly upon many diseases specially treated of in foreign works, 
and pay more particular attention to that class of diseases most prevalent 
with us. 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 827 

The Teeth. 

The sheep has eight incisors in the hiwer jaw, and twelve grinders — 
six on a side in each jaw, — making in all thirty-two teeth. At birth the 
Iamb should have the two central incisors just pushing through. At a 
month old all the incisors should be up. At one year, sometimes not 
until fifteen months old, the two first millv incisors will be shed, and two 
new or permanent ones will appear. At two years old past, it will have 
two more permanent teeth, or four in all. At three years old past it 
will have six permanent incisors, and at four years old past the eight 
permanent teeth, or a full mouth, as it is called, will be shown. This 
will be an accurate test as to the age of sheep, up to four years, varied of 
course by care and keep ; highly fed sheep developing faster than illy 
kept ones. At six the incisors begin to decrease in breadth, and lose 
their fan shape, as seen at four years old. At seven they become longer 
and narrower, and each year this shrinkage continues, until at last they 
become quite slender, the middle ones long, and at ten years they loosen 
and begin to drop out. In the West few sheep are kept to the age of 
ten years, except in the case of valuable ewes and bucks. The principal 
care necessary with the teeth is, if decay is suspected, to examine, and 
extract the decayed ones, or pierce the nerve with a hot iron. 

Swelled Head. 

Sheep sometimes are bitten by venomous' snakes, but this seldom 
occurs, and when so the animal is usually beyond help before being 
found. The bites of insects however, sometimes give trouble. When 
swelling from this cause is discovered, cut the wool from around the 
wound, wash with warm water, dry, rub thoroughly T\'ith lard oil, and if 
the insect may have been a venomous one, give the following dose each 
hour until relief is obtained : 

No. 1. }i Scruple hartshorn, 

1 Ounce rainwater. 

Vegetable Poisoning. 

The faces of the sheep sometimes become poisoned from feeding near 
noxious plants. Bathe the sore place with warm water, and then moisten 
with the following : 

No. 2. 10 Grains acetateof lead, 

1 Ounce water. 
Dissolve. 



828 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

This is also excellent for burns, bruises, irritable and moist ulcers, in- 
flamed tendons, moist skin diseases, and cracked and itching surfaces, 
and also for sore lips. 

Inflammation of the Eyes. 

Simple ophthalmy sometimes occurs in sheep. If there is serious in- 
flammation, bleed slightly from the facial vein-^-the vein running down 
obliquely from the eye, and bathe with the following; 

No. 3. 3 Grains sulphate of zinc, 

1 Ounce water, 
15 Drops laudanum. 
Mix, and bathe lightly twice a day. 

Sheep Distemper. 

Malignant epizootic catarrh is an epidemic accompanied by severe con- 
gestion and inflammation of the lining membrane of the nasal cavities and 
sometimes extending into the stomach and bowels, is as to its cause un- 
known, but has occasionally been very fatal, both East and West. 

How to Know It. 

There is depression, a slight watery discharge from the nostrils and the 
eyes, which are partly closed and paler than natural. There is more or 
less loss of appetite. The pulse is normal as to frequency, but is weaker 
than usual. There is no cough, and the breathing is not changed unless 
the bronchial tubes are affected. The symptoms increase, until the end 
of a week the discharge from the nose is thick and glutinous, some- 
times tinged with blood ; eyes half closed, the lids gummed with a yellow 
secretion. The respiration is difficult, emaciation and prostration great ; 
the pulse very low, the appetite is gone, and in from ten to fifteen days 
the animal dies. 

What to Do. 

At the first symptoms, remove the sheep to a dry, well ventilated 
place, where they may be kept comfortably warm. Give them concen- 
trated and nourishing food and stimulants. If the bowels are costive, 
give them, say : 

• 
No. 4. 8 Grains corrosive sublimate, 

1 Oz. rhubarb, 

2 Oz. ginger, 
2 Oz. gentian. 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 829 

Simmer the last three in a quart of water for ten or fifteen minutes ; 
strain, and add the first. Give two table-spoonfuls twice a day. In any 
case, avoid all strong purging or bleeding. An equable warmth, good 
feeding, nourishing drinks, and good nursing, is what will save, when 
possible, if taken early. K not Avell nursed the patient Avill be sure to die. 

Grubs in the Head. 

In July and August, if sheep are seen standing crowded together with 
the heads close to the ground, occasionally stamping violently, or striking 
with their fore feet, be sure the sheep gad-fly Oestrus Ovis, is attempting 
to deposit her eggs in the nostrils of the sheep. This fly is somewhat 
like the ox gad-fly, but smaller. The egg deposited, the maggot soon 
hatches, ascends the sinuses of the nose, causing much irritation. Then 
it grows during Winter, and in the Spring descends and falls on the 
ground, burrows therein, assumes the form of a chrysalis, to be again 
transformed into a perfect fly. 

How to Save the Sheep. 

Prevent the flies from laying their eggs. Plow a portion of the field 
into furrows of loose soil ; keep the sheep's noses smeared with tar, by 
tarring once a day through the season of the fly. I have caught them in 
a light bag net, such as boys use in catching insects. A reward of five 
cents for every fly caught would well repa}^ the sheep owner. 

The maggots aflSx themselves by their strong hooks, and are not easily 
dislodged. Violent sneezing will sometimes dislodge them. Thus Scotch 
snuff may be blown up the nostrils. The infested sheep may be driven 
in a close place, and horn shavings or leather burned to irritate the 
membrane of the nostrils. A better way, when carefully done, is to 
secure the sheep, hold the head up, and pour into each nostril a teaspoon- 
ful of equal parts of sweet oil and turpentine, well shaken together. Be 
careful, however, that the sheep is not strangled by the mixture entering 
the lungs. The grubs are sometimes extracted by the surgeon. It is a 
nice operation, and as a rule will not pay its cost 

Apoplexy. 

This is a disease seldom seen in the United States, and confined to 
sheep of a plethoric habit, and is generally fatal if not taken early. The 
sheep leaps suddenly in the air, falls and dies in a few moments. The 
remedy is early and copious bleeding from the neck (jugular) vein, until 



830 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR 

the sheep shows signs of weakness. A pint of blood is sometimes taken 
from full-bodied, large sheep and less for smaller ones. 

Prevention. 

This is better than cure. If a sheep be dull, and apparently uncon- 
scious of what is going on ; if the membranes of the nose are deep red 
or violet, the nostrils and pupils of the eye dilated, the pulse hard, and 
the breathing stertorous, bleed immediately, and afterwards give two 
ounces of salt, to be followed by an ounce every six hours until a copious 
evacuation is produced. 

Inflammation of the Brain. 

This is a secondary effect of the causes which produce apoplexy. The 
animal is dull and inactive. The eyes are red and protruding, and at 
leno-th the animal rushes about in the wildest delirium. The same remedy 
is prescribed as for apoplexy. 

Lock-j aw. 

This is produced from a variety of causes, among the more common, 
being inflammation of the membranes from improper gelding, injuring 
the hoofs, horns, etc. The animal is unable to walk, or only so with dif- 
ficulty ; the jaws are set, and death ensues in a short time. AVarmth, 
quiet, and bleeding from the jugular vein, is recommended. We should 
omit the bleeding and give one-half lo three-quarters of an ounce of 
castor oil, according to the age of the sheep, the disease being confined 
mostly to lambs, and sheep after gelding. Follow the dose of castor oil, 
in half an hour, with ten grains of opium, and at the end of an hour, 
give another ten grains of opium if a decided sedative effect is not pro- 
duced. Epilepsy is a kindred disease, in fact tetanus is considered to be 
an aggravated state of epilepsy. The remedial means will be the same. 

Palsy. 

This is the opposite of epilepsy. The sheep is unable to move its 
limbs. It is supposed to be produced by cold and improper treatment. 
It is rare in this country. Take the lamb to a warm place, give it warm 
gruel, with a little ginger mixed in it. If a purgative is indicated give: 

No. 5. 2 Oz. epsom salts, 

Yi Drachm ginger. 

Mix in half pint of ale or water; t( be followed by two drachms of 
iaudanum in an hour. 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 831 

Babies. 

Sheep are apt to be bitten by rabid dogs. The only preventive is to kill all 
strange or suspiciously acting dogs. The remedy is to kill the sheep as soon 
as attacked. The perils attending treatment, and the hopelessness of the case 
dictate this course. 

Hydatids on the Brain. 

This is a disease of rare occurrence in America, probably from the 
fact that range is greater and dogs fewer to the square mile. The disease 
once fixed, nothing, practically, can be done, at least except a thorough 
veterinary surgeon be called, since it involves a delicate surgical operation. 
The bladder worm or hydatid is a form of the tape worm of the dog, in 
an earlier stage of existance. The mature tape worm lives in the bowels 
of the dog, its eggs are voided with the excrement, and in close pasturage 
the sheep take the eggs while grazing ; hatching, they make their way to 
the brain, where they grow, and must remain until eaten by some other 
animal. Thus the dog eats the sheep's head, acquires the tape worm, 
and the insect again goes its round of life. Allow no sheep's heads to be 
eaten without thorough cooking, kill all strange dogs, and give your shep- 
herd dogs a good vermifuge occasionally. 

One of the plans adopted to get rid of the hydatid when it can be loca- 
ted is to pierce the cyst with the needle of a strong hypodermic syringe, 
and inject into it half a tea-spoonful of the following : 

No. 6. 1 Grain iodine, 

5 Grains iodide of potash, 

1 Ounce water. 

Mix. 

Parasites of the Body and Skin. 

Sheep are infested with lice, three different forms of parasites which 
produce scab, also with ticks, intestinal worms, parasites of the liver, 
lungs, etc. 

The Scab. 

This is produced by a minute, almost microscopic insect, Avhich bur- 
rows under the cuticle, producing intense irritation, the escape of serum, 
and which drying, brings off with it wool and all, and, spreading with 
great rapidity, soon infests the whole flock. The tenacity of life of these 
insects is so great that a scabby pasture has been said to spread the con- 
tagion after three years. The prevention of infection should be impera- 
tive with every flock master. 



832 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

How to Know It. 



The sheep is restless and constantly rubbing itself against posts and 
other objects it can get near. It bites itself with its teeth, and scratches 
itself with its hoofs. Soon the fleece becomes ragged and begins to fall 
out, and the animal appears wretched and unsightly, and at length dies. 




A BAD CASE OF SCAB. 



What to Do. 

The remedies are both liquid and oily. A good dip, and one re- 
garded in England as most effective, is the following : 

No. 7. 3 Pounds arsenic, 

3 Pounds pearl ash, 
3 Pounds sulphur, 
3 Pounds soft soap. 

Mix in ten gallons of boiling water, stir, but avoid the fumes, and add 
ninety gallons of cold water. Prepare a tank that will easily allow a 
sheep to be dipped, having a slanted, slatted drain at the side, tight bot- 
tom underneath to allow the drip to run buck. Dip the sheep, back 
down, being careful not to allow the head to enter the poisonous mixture, 
letting: the animal remain one minute. Lift on to the slats and rub and 
squeeze the wool, until pretty well drained, and place iu a yard until 
dry. When dry, go over the flock again, as to the heads, with the fol- 
lowing : 



No. 8. 



1 Pound mercurial ointment, 

6 Pounds lard, 

1 Pound rosin, 

^ Pint oil of turpentine. 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 833 

Mix the mercurial ointment witn the lard by heating gently and stir- 
ring. Dissolve the resin in the turpentine and rub all together when the 
lard is cold. Part the wool on the head between the ears, on the fore- 
head, along the neck and under the jaws, and rub in the ointment. 

In the United States, tobacco is often used in the place of arsenic ; if 
used, substitute ten pounds of strong tobacco leaves for the arsenic in the 
formula as given above. 

A formula in great repute among Australian shepherds, is the fol- 
lowing : 

No. 9. 1 Pound tobacco leaves, 

1 Pound sulphur, 
5 Gallons water. 
Boil the tobacco in the water, then add the sulghur. 

The sheep is dipped in this solution while quite hot, and retained in it 
four or five minutes, its head being from time to time thrust under so 
as not to enter the eyes, nose, or mouth, and the wool pressed and 
dried as before stated. 

Diseases of the Generative and Urinary Organs. 

Use the remedies prescribed for cattle, noting the doses as given for 
sheep in the list of medicines for animals. 

Diseases of the Limbs and Hoofs— root Rot. 

This is an infectious disease often aggravated by grit and dirt increas- 
ing the inflammation. The indications of rot are described minutely 
by Dr. Randall : 

The first symptom is the disappearance of the naturally, smooth, dry, 
pale condition of the skin at the top of the cleft, over the heels. It 
becomes somewhat red, warm and moist, and sliglitly rough or chafed. 
Next, the moisture increases to a discharge, and an ulcer is formed which 
extends down to the upper portion of the inner wall of the hoof. These 
walls are then attacked, become disorganized, and the disease penetrates 
between the fleshy sole and the bottom of the hoof. The hoof is thick- 
ened at the heel by an unnatural deposition of horn. The crack between 
it and the fleshy sole pours out an offensive and purulent matter. Soon 
all parts of the foot are penetrated by the burrowing ulceration, the horny 
sole is disorganized, and the fleshy sole becomes a black and swollen mass 
of corruption, shapeless, spongy, and often filled with maggots. The 
fore-feet are usually first attacked ; lameness is early noticed and soon 



834 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

becomes complete : the appetite is lost, and the animal dies from exhaus- 
tion. The oifensive odor of the true foot rot is characteristic, and once 
made familiar will serve as a certain guide in recognizing the disease. 
The disease may present itself in a malignant and rapid form, or in a 
mild one. The first attack on a flock is generally of the severe charac- 
ter. When it is kept under the first year, its appearance the next Sum- 
mer will be mild ; and the third season still milder. 

How to Cure Rot. 

Every part of the diseased structure must be cut away, cleaning the 
knife from time to time. This thoroughly accomplished, prepare a tank, 
which is to be filled to a depth of four inches, with a strong, saturated 
solution of sulphate of copper, blue vitriol; let each sheep stand in this, 
heated as hot as they can bear, for ten or more minutes, keeping the whole 
hot by occasion.'^lly plashing a piece of heated iron in it, or adding a 
quantity of the solution boiling hot. It is also well to cover the hoof 
with chloride of lime, and fill the cleft of the hoof with a piece of tow 
Ions: enougli so the ends can be twisted into a cord to be fastened around 
the fetlock. This makes a good bandage. The hoofs should be exam- 
ined daily for sometime and the chloride renewed if necessary. Keep 
the sheep in a dry, well-littered yard, or on a dry, short pasture, and feed 
well. If the case is bad, the following tonic given internally will be 
necessary : 

No. 10. 2 Drachms common salt, 

M Drachm sulphate of iron, 
>^ Drachm nitrate of potash. 
Mix as a powder and give daily. 

Fouls and Travel-sore. 

These may be cured, the first by washing the cleft of the hoof with 
warm water and applying a strong solution of blue vitriol, and the latter 
by touching the thin places in the hoofs with a feather dipped in oil of 
vitriol, and smearing over with tar. Or better, prepare the following lotion 
and use occasionally: 

No. 11. 1 Part solution of chloride of antimony, 

1 Part compound tincture of myrrh. 

Gravel. 

Sheep often become graveled. If lame in the least examine them, and 
cut the horn of the hoof to expose the gravel ; extract it and cover the 
wound with tar. 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 835 

The Biflex Canal. 

The issue as it is called (biflex canal) in the front and upper part of 
the hoof, sometimes becomes irritated and swollen. Do not follow the 
a,dvice of ignorant persons and "cut out the worm." If anything is 
embedded therein, extract it. If simply swollen and inflamed, and 
perhaps ulcerated, lance it in two or three places slightly and dress with 
compound tincture of myrrh. 

Maggoty Sheep. 

Often in hot weather, from one cause or another, flies will lay theii 
eggs, either in a wound, or, if the sheep is dirty, in the accumulated dung 
about the thighs. The prevention is cleanliness. Keep the sheep well 
tagged, that is shear the wool from under the sides of the tail, and 
diagonally thence some ways down the thighs. If maggots exist they 
must be taken out, and the wounds touched with 

No. 12. 1 Part creosote, 

4 Parts alcohol. 

And afterwards bathed daily, until relieved, with tincture of myrrh. 

Other Diseases.— Lung-Worms. 

This disease is caused by the presence of worms, the strongulus filarial 
which sometimes make their way into the lungs, but are usually found in 
the windpipe and bronchial tubes and bowels of sheep. If there is 
dysentery, with fetid stools, examine the evacuations and the mucus of 
the mouth and throat for indications of the worms. If there is a husky 
cough and quickened breathing ; if the sheep rubs its nose on the ground ; 
if it lose its appetite and flesh prepare the following ; 

No. 13. 6 Oz. sulphate of magnesia, 

4 Oz. nitrate of potash. 

Pour on these three pints boiling water, and when the solution is milk 
"warm add : 

No. 14. 4 Oz. oil of turpentine, 

yi Oz. bole armeniac. 

Mix well and give two or three tablespoonfuls every other day. 

When the worms are supposed to prevail, the following may be made 
into twelve doses, one to be given once in two weeks, as a preventive ; 

No. 15. 2 Oz. oil of turpentine, 

2 Oz. powdered gentian, 
2 Oz. laudanum. 
Dissolve in a quart of lime water. 

This is enough for twelve sheep. 
5.^ 



836 



ILLUS'I RATED STOCK DOCTOR. 
Intestinal Worms. 



The presence of intestinal worms and other parasite affections may be 
often found if sheplierds would take the trouble to dissect a dead sheep. 
When found in one, the presumption is good that many are affected, for 
these parasites seldom appear in individual cases only. As a preventive, 
when feared, plenty of salt should be allowed, and the following prepared 
to be given once in two weeks. 

Ho. 16. 2 Lbs. common salt, 

1 Lb. sulphate of magnesia, 
>i Lb. sulphate of iron, 
>i Lb. powdered gentian, 
Mix: 

This is sufficient for 80 to 100 sheep to be given in ground feed. 

Dr. Tellor says : Ordinary wood soot, as it can be collected from the 
chimney is a very efficient vermifuge, often used, both in children and 
the lower animals. It may be mixed with salt, or sprinkled on the fodder. 
Another cheap and useful vermifuge, in the form of a drink, is — 

No. 17. 1 Lb. quick lime, 

5 Oz. sulphate of iron. 

Mix with five gallons of water, and give a pint twice a week. 



As a vermifuge in round and thread-worms, the shepherd may use — 

No. 18. 

For a drench. 



2 Oz. linseed oil, 

yi Oz. oil of turpentine. 



For tape worm, the following : — 

No. 19. ^ to 1 Drachm, powdered areca nut, 

10 to 20 Drops, oil of small fern. 

Give in molasses and water, and follow next day with a purge. 
The Rot, or Liver-Fluke. 

This is a disease caused by flat worms, {Fasciola hepatica,) in the 
liver. If by rubbing the skin of a sheep backward and forward at the 
small of the back as taken between the thumb and fingers, it is soft and 
flabby and there is a crackling feeling in the fingers, as if there were water 
underneath : if there is weakness and tenderness about the loins ; if the 
belly swells, and the eye becomes jaundiced •, if there is a diarrhea, a weak 
heart and general stupor, and no veterinarian is near, isolate the animals 
in a high dry pasture, give abundant and nutritious food and prepare the 
following ; 



SHEEP, THEIR DISEASES. 837 

No. 30. >i Lb. sulphate oi magnesia, 

3 Drachms oil of turpentine. 

Mix for a drench, and give every two days, one-third of the quantity 
at a dose. 

The following is an English remedy and said to be very effective : 

No. 21. l}i Driichms yellow resia, 

1 Oz. oil of turpentine, 
10 Grains calomel, 
30 Drops tincture of iodine. 
For three doses, one to be given every morning for three days, in gruel. 

Colic. 

The best preventive is to keep sheep off of pastures liable to inundation, 
since the worm passes one stage of its existance in shell fish and water 
insects, which are carried into such pastures by floods, and the sheep get 
the germs with the grass. 

Lush pasture to hungry sheep, ergot in fodder, musty or blighted 
grain, will produce colic or hoven in sheep as in cattle. The presence of 
gas is sometimes so strong as to rupture the walls of the rumen or third 
stomach. If the case is not serious, press and knead the st©mach, and 
give the following : 

No. 22. 2 Drachms sulphate of potash, 

1 Oz. common salt, 
1 Oz. sweet oil. 
Mix in a wine glass full of water. 

H the inflation is great, get a rubber tube, of half inch calibre, fasten 
a pledget of wool over the end to prevent clogging, oil thoroughly and 
introduce gently down the throat to the stomach. If this means fail and 
the sweUing continues, remove the wool from the most prominent part 
and plunge a trocar into the stomach. If a trocar is not to be had use a 
common sharp pointed pen knife, and keep the orifice open by inserting 
a goose quill. 



PART VII. 

SWINE. 

HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS 
A.ND MANAGEMENT. 



SWINE. 

History, Breeds and Characteristics. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY AND BREEDS. 



OKIGIN OP THE HOG. TEETH OF THE HOG. IMPORTANCE OF SWINE TO MAIT. 

1. IMPROVED BREEDS OF SWINE. ENGLISH BREEDS. II. THE BERKSHIRE^ . 

ESTABLISHING THE IMPROVED BERKSHIRE. STANDARD CHARACTERIS- 
TICS OF BERKSHIRES. III. NEAPOLITAN HOGS. IV. ESSEX BREED. V. 

TORKSHIRE HOG. — VI. SUFFOLKS. — VII. LANCASHIRE HOGS. — VHI. LANCASHIRE 

MIDDLE-BREED. — IX. LARGE LANCASHIRE. — AMERICAN BREEDS. X. POLAND 

CHINA. — Xl. CHESTER WHITES. — XII. JERSEY REDS. — CHESHIRES. — XIII. CHARAC- 
TERISTICS. RECAPITULATION OF BREEDS. 

Origin of the Hog. 

The great antiquity of the hog, sus scrofa of Linnaeus, is fixed from 
the fact that remains of several fossil species have been found in the 
tertiary and diluvial deposits of Europe, and allied species in India. The 
wild hogs, from which the domestic breeds have taken their rise, are 
native of Europe, Asia and Africa, and are found wherever the climate 
is mild enough to afford sustenance in Winter, and in a domestic state 
wherever civilization has been extended. The fact of the origin of the 
domestic hog; is well established from the fact that it will interbreed and 
continue entirely fertile, the succeeding fertility of the offspring, to the 
remotest generations, proving the homogeneity of the species. 

841 



842 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. * 

In America, in Australia and in the Polynesian group, hogs were un- 
known until introduced. In England the wild species has long been 
extinct. In France they are nearly so, but in some parts of Germany, 
Denmark, Italy, Greece, and in Asia Minor they are still met with. In 
America swine are said to have been introduced into Hispaniola by 
Columbus in 1493 ; into Florida by De Soto in 1538 ; into Nova Scotia 
and Newfoundland in 1553, into Canada in 1608, and into Virginia in 
1609. So great was the fecundity of swine in Virginian forests, that in 
eiohteen years after their introduction the inhabitants of Jamestown htid 
to palisade the town to keep them out. 

Teeth of the Hog. 

The domestic hog has, when full grown, forty-four permanent teeth, 
twenty-eight of which are preceded by temporary, or milk teeth. The 
teeth are classified as follows : Twelve incisors or front teeth, six in the 
upper and six in the lower jaw. The incisors in each jaw are divided 
equally, three on each side of the median line, of which the fore- 
most are called the nippers ; the next outside of these, intermediary 
incisors, and the remainder, outside of these are called corner incisors. 
Next in order are the four tusks, one on each upper and one in each 
under jaw on each side. The true grinders or molars are six in number, 
not including the so-called "wolf teeth," four in number, but which are 
now classed with the molars, making really seven on a side in each jaw. 
Each of the three hindmost molars in the four rows are permanent teeth, 
or not preceded by milk teeth. The three next in front of these appear 
soon after birth, one after another, and are called milk teeth(or premolars) 
and in the course of time are shed one after another, in the order in 
which they appeared, to give place for the permanent molars. These six 
molars are counted from the hindmost one forward. The seventh molar 
tooth, or the fourth premolar, appears later, in the space between the 
third premolar and the tusk. This small, apparently supernumerary 
tooth is sometimes called a wolf's tooth, and was once considered as an 
independent tooth, not belonging to the molars. It is now classed with the 
molars, to which it undoubtedly belongs. It is a permanent tooth, and 
is sometimes very small and imperfect, which is accounted for by the 
near proximity of the large and strong tusk. 

The teeth of the hog may therefore be represented by the following 
formula : Incisors, six upper six lower ; canines, one upper one lower on 
each side ; wolf teeth, so-called, now determined to be molars, one upper 
one lower on each side ; molars, six upper six lower on each side ; in all 
44 teeth. 



SWINE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 843 

To Tell the Age of Swine. 

Furstenburg, a well known German authority, has given the following 
Bummary for determining the age of swine : 

The animal is born with eight teeth — four corner incisors and four 
tusks. 

On the eighth or tenth day appears the second or third temporary 
molar. 

At four weeks old the four nippers appear — ^two in the upper and two 
in the lower jaw. 

At the fifth or sixth week the foremost temporary molars appear in 
the upper and lower jaw. 

At the age of three months the intermediary incisors have appeared 
above the gums. 

At the sixth month the so-called wolf's teeth will have appeared ; and 
at the same age appear the third permanent molars. 

At the ninth month the following teeth will have appeared : namely 
the permanent corner incisors, the permanent tusks, and also the second 
permanent molars. 

At the twelfth month the permanent nippers will be in view. 

With the twelfth and thirteenth months the three temporary molars 
will have been shed, and their permanent substitutes, which, at fifteen 
months of age, will have fully appeared, are now just cutting through 
the gums. 

With the eighteenth month the permanent intermediary incisors and 
the hindmost permanent molar will have made their appearance ; and, 
with the twenty-first month, they will be fully developed. 

Importance of Swine to Man. 

• 

Next to cattle, swine are the most important to man as an article of 
food. In the adaptability of pork for successfully standing long voyages, 
either barreled or smoked, in the value of lard for various culinary, lubri- 
cating and burning purposes, its place could not easily be supplied now. 

As showing the importance of swine breeding in the United States, 
the following table is given, extending from 1871 to 1878 inclusive : 

1871—29,457,500, 1875—28,062,200, 

1872—31,796,300, 1876—25,726,800, 

1873—32,682,050, 1877—28,077,100, 

1874—39,860,900, 1878—32,362,500. 

In the year 1878 the three greatest hog producing States were Iowa, 



^44 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Ohio and Illinois ; of these Iowa contained 2,244,800 ; Ohio, 2,341,411 ; 
and Illinois, 3,355,500 hogs. In 1878 there were packed in Chicago 
alone over 5,000,000 swine, or one-sixth the whole number raised in the 
United States. 

I. Improved Breeds of Swine. 

To the India hog, the Chinese and the Neapolitan is due more than to 
any other, the improvement in English breeds, and from those introduced 
into the United States are due our own American breeds, that have now 
become unexcelled in any quarter of the globe for the purpose for which 
they are intended ; early maturity, aptitude to fatten at any age, and 
ultimate weight of the mature animal. Of these the Chinese hog has 
given great fattening propensities. 




OLD CHINA BOAR. 



The illustration we give will show first, the appearance of the boar as 
known years ago, and on the next page the sow. This breed has had a 
very marked influence as one of the bases of the Poland-China breed of 
the present day, and is said to have been introduced in the West, in Ohio, 
in 1816. 

Civilization in China antedates that of all other nations. Hence 
it is quite probable that the systematic breeding of swine among that 
people antedates that of other ancient nations. This again is proved by 
the prepotency of the blood of this hog. It has formed the basis of im- 



SWINE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 



845 



|)roveraent in all our modern breeds, both in England and America. In 
England its prepotency has been strongly felt in all the breeds and has 
transferred the long-legged, coarse-boned, elephant-eared, and big-headed 
swine of Old England into the deep-bodied, broad-necked, short-nosed, 
compact, and early-maturing Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, Small Yorkshire 
and other representative breeds, which have been further improved by the 




CHINA SOW. 



infusion of Neapolitan blood, reducing the hair, hide and bone until now 
but little more is to be desired. And in our own country it has given us 
the Poland-China, Chester whites, improved Cheshires and New Jersey 
reds,' — breeds which may compete most favorably with any others in 
the United States. 



English Breeds— The Berkshires. 

This now magnificent breed has been bred in Berkshire, England and 
in adjacent countries from a very early day. Their origin is thus report- 
ed : The family of hogs in Berkshire, England, which was the foundation 
of the present improved breed, was of a sandy or buff color, about equally 
spotted with black ; was of a large size, a slow feeder, and did not fully 
mature till two and a half or three years old. But as such it was very 
highly esteemed for the proportion of lean to fat in its meat, and for 
the superior weight of its hams and shoulders, thus rendering the whole 
carcass peculiarly fitted for smoking, for which purpose it was said to 



846 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

excel all other English breeds. The improvement is reported to have 
commenced sometime during the last century, through the importation 
and crossing on the females of a Siamese boar. This breed was, in color 
from a jet black to a dark slate, or rich plum color ; of medium size, 
quick to mature ; very fine in all points, with short, small legs and head; 
thin jowls ; a dished face ; slender, erect ears ; broad, deep, compact body, 
well ribbed up ; extra heavy hams and shoulders ; a slender tail ; thin skin, 
and firm, elastic flesh. 

Establishing the Improved Berkshire. 

After using the Siamese boar in Berkshire to the old style of females 
as long as it was considered b(\'^t, he was discarded, and the cross pigs 
then bred together. In 1838 as we and others bred this swine in Illinois, 
they were in color a deep, rich plum, with a slight flecking on the body, 
of white, or buff, or a mixture of the two ; having a small blaze in the 
face ; two to four white feet, and more or less white hair on the tail. 
The plum color was preferred to the black'or slate, because it carried 
rather higher style and higher points with it, and a superior quality of 
flesh, softer hair, and finer skin. Since that time the Berkshires have 
been much improved in style and compactness, but probably not in excel- 
lent meat points. In lean meat in the bacon pieces, and in superior hams 
and shoulders, they excel all other breeds. It must be acknowledged, 
however, they were always somewhat harder feeders than the best of the 
very fat breeds. 

Standard Characteristics of Berkshires. 

The following may be accepted as a standard of characteristics and 
marks ; Color black, white on feet, face, tip of tail, and occasional 
splash of white on the arm. While a small spot of white on some other 
part of the body does not argue an impurity of blood, yet it is to be 
discouraged, to the end that uniformity of color may be attained by 
breeders. White upon the ear, or a bronze or copper spot on some part 
of the body argues no impurity, but rather a reappearing of original 
colors, by reversion. Markings of white other than those named above, 
are suspicious, and a pig so marked should be rejected. Face short, 
fine and well dished ; broad between the eyes ; ears generally almost 
erect, sometimes ' inclined forward with advancing age, always small, 
thin, soft and showing veins ; jowl full ; neck short and thick ; shoulder 
short from neck but moderately deep from back down ; back broad and 
straight, or very little arched ; ribs long and well sprung, giving rotundity 



SWINE, HISTORTft AND BREEDS. 



847 



of body; short ribs of good length, giving breadth and levehiess of loin; 
hips good length from joint of hips to rump ; hams thick, round and 
deep, holding their thickness well back and down to the hocks ; tail fine 
and small, set on high up ; legs short and fine, but straight and very 




strong, with hoofs erect and legs set wide apart ; size medium ; length 
medium, since extremes are to be avoided ; bone fine and compact ; offal 
very light ; hair fine and soft ; no bristles ; skin pliable. 



848 



ILLUSTRATRP STOCK DOCTOK. 

III. Neapolitan Hogs. 



Sidney, in writing of the Neapolitan pig, says : "The Neapolitan pig m 
black, or rather brown, without bristles, consequently delicate when first 
introduced into our northern climate. The flesh is of fine grain, and the 
fat is said to be free from therankness of the coarser tribes." Referring 
to the supposed descent of the breed from the wild boar of Europe, he 
adds : "It is more probable that the Neapolitans are the descendants of 
the dark Eastern swine imported by early Italian voyagers and cultivated 
to perfection by the favorable climate and welcome food." Neapolitan 
pigs have been for many years frequently taken to England. Martin 
credits the great improvement in English swine, which has taken place 
within thirty years, chiefly to the agency of .the Neapolitan and Chinese 
breeds, conjointly, or to cither alone. He names especially the Essex, 
Hampshire, Berkshire aaid Yorkshire, and to these Youatt adds the 
Wiltshire, and enforces Martin's statement as to the Berkshire and Essex. 
Their earliest introduction into the United States was in 1840-41. They 
seem, however, not to have been well bred specimens. About 1850 a 
Mr. Chamberlain of Red Hook, New York, made an importation direct 
from Sorrento. They were all of a dark slate color, and their pigs were 
like themselves and none with white, ash or drab color on them. The 
following may be accepted as a perfect description of this breed and 
their points : 

Head small ; forehead bony and flat ; face slightly dishing ; snout rather 
long and very slender ; ears small, thin, standing forward nearly horizon- 
tally, and quite lively ; jowls very full ; neck short, broad and heavy 
above ; trunk long, cylindrical and well ribbed back ; back flat, and ribs 
arching, even in low flesh ; belly horizontal on the lower line ; hind-quar- 
ters higher than the fore, but not very much so ; legs very fine, the bones 
and joints being smaller than those of any other breed ; hams and shoul- 
ders well developed and meaty ; tail fine, curled, flat at the extremity, 
and fringed with hair on each side ; general color slaty, or bluisli plum 
color, with a cast of coppery red ; skin soft and fine, nearly free from 
hair, which, when found upon the sides of the head and behind the fore- 
legs, is black and soft, and rather long ; flesh firm and elastic to the touch 

IV. The Essex Breed. 



It is well known that the Neapolitan was a prime integer in the improve* 
ment of the Essex breed of swine. In comparing specimens of the two 
breeds one can see plainly the cross of a broad, deep, gross feeder with 
an animal of great delicacy and refinement — the cross proving, when es« 



SWINE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 84& 

tablished, to combine those qualities which are of greatest value in the 
parent breeds, and being capable of imparting them to crosses with breeds 
less finely organized. 




K8.-5i;X BOAR 



The Essex originated in the south of England and are entirely black. 
They are small to medium in size, and are extensively used in England as 
crosses on the large coarse swine, with a view to improving their fattening 
qualities. The best specimens may be known by being black in color ; 
face short and dishing ; ears small and soft, standing erect while young, 
coming down somewhat with age ; carcass long, broad, straight and deep ; 
hams heavy, and well let down ; bone fine, and carcass when fattened, 
mainly composed of lard ; hair generally rather thin ; fattening qualities 
superior. The black color of the Essex, as is the case with all the im- 
proved black swine, is only confined to the epidermis or scarf skin ; when 
dressed the skin is beautifully white and clean. The cut we have given 
of the Essex boar, will very well represent the Neapolitan with the excep- 
tion that the Essex is a comparatively well haired breed. 

V. The Yorkshire Hog. 

The Yorkshires are among the best of the pure bred swine of England,, 
and have stamped their impress upon nearly all the modern white breeds. 
Their good qualities are : They are of a size, shape and flesh that are 
desirable for the family or the packer's use. They are hardy and vigorous 
in constitution, have a good coat of hair, protecting the skin so well either 
in extreme cold or heat that it rarely chills or blisters. They are very 
prolific and good mothers ; the young do not vary in color, and so little 
in shape that their form when matured may be determined in advance by 
an inspection of the sire and dam. 

The Yorkshire, medium or middle breed, says Mr. Sydney, is a modem 



350 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

invention of Yorkshire pig breeders, and perhaps the most useful and 
popular of the white breeds, as it unites, in a striking degree, the good 
qualities of the large and smalL It has been produced by a cross of the 
large and the small York and Cumberland, which is larger than the small 
York Like the large whites, they often have a few pale blue spots on 
the skin, the hair on these spots being white. All white breeds have these 
spots more or less, and they often increase in number as the animal grows 
older. 

It was not until 1851 that the merits of this breed were fully recog- 
nized, when at a meeting of the Keighley Agricultural Society, the judges 
having called the attention of the stewards to the fact that several supe- 
rior sows, which were evidently closely allied to the small breed, had 
been exhibited in the large breed class, the aspiring intruders were, by 
official authority, withdrawn. 

The middle Yorkshire breed are about the same size as the Berkshire 
breed, but have smaller heads, and are much lighter in the bone. They 
are better feeders than the small whites, but not so good as the large 
whites ; in fact, they occupy a position in every respect between these 
two breeds. 

The Cumberland, a middle breed Yorkshire, are not distributed 
throughout the West, but when thoroughbred specimens have been 
introduced they are held in great esteem, as well for an animal for 
exhibition purposes as for family use. They are especial favorites with 
packers who buy their stock on foot for the reason that they yield larger 
proportionate net weights than any other hogs which grow large enough 
for their use. They are small in bone but large in flesh, of the very best 
quality, evenly and proportionately distributed over the whole frame. 

VI. The SufPolks. 

The Suffolks owe nearly all their good qualities probably to the infu- 
sion of Yorkshire blood. 

Mr. Sidney says that Yorkshire stands in the first rank as a pig feeding 
county, possessing the largest white breeds in England, as well as excel- 
lent medium and small breeds, all white, the latter of which, transplanted 
into the south has figured and won prizes under the name of divers 
noblemen and gentlemen, and under the name of more than one county. 
The Yorkshires are closely allied to the Cumberland breeds, and have been 
so much intermixed, that, with the exception of the very largest breeds 
it i^ difficult to determine precisely where the Cumberland begins and the 
Yorkshire ends. The Manchester boar, the improved Suffolk, the im- 
proved Middlesex, the Caleshill and the Prince Alberts or Windsors were 



SWINE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 



851 



all formed on Yorkshire-Cumberland stock, and some of them are nearly 
pure Yorkshires, transplanted and re-christened Speaking of the pigs 
kept in the dairy district of Cheshire, he says that white pigs have not 
found favor with the dairymen of Cheshire, and the white ones most used 
are the Manchester boars, another name for the Yorkshire-Cumberland 
breed. All the writers who have followed him down to the latest work 
published on the subject, occupy space in describing various county pigs 
which have long ceased to possess, if they ever did possess any merit 
worthy of the attention of the breeder. Thus the Norfolk, the Suffolk, 
the Bedford and the Cheshire have each separate notice, of which the 
Suffolk alone is worthy of cultivation, and the Suffolk is only another 
name for a small Yorkshire pig. 

We submit also a brief description of the Suffolk's "points :" Head 
small, very short ; cheeks prominent and full ; face dished ; snout small 
and very short ; jowl fine ; ears small, thin, upright, soft and silky ; neck 
very short and thick, the head appearing almost as if set on front of 
shoulders ; no arching of crest ; crest wide and deep ; elbows standing 
out ; brisket wide, but not deep ; shoulders and crop-shoulders thick, 
rather upright, rounding outward from top to elbows ; crops wide and 
full. Sides and flanks — ribs well arched out from back, good length 
between shoulder and ham ; flank well filled out and coming well down at 
ham. Back broad, level and straight from crest to tail, not falling off or 
dowii at tail ; hams wide and full, well rounded out ; twist very wide and 
full all the way down. Legs and feet — legs small and very short, 
standing wide apart, in sows just keeping the belly from the ground ; 
bone fine ; feet small, hoofs rather spreading ; tail small, long and 
tapering. Skin, hair and color — skin thin, of a pinkish shade, free from 
color ; hair fine and silky, not too thick ; color of hair pale yellowish 
white, perfectly free from any spots or other color. Size small to 
medium. 

VII. Lancashire Hogs. 

There are three breeds in Lancashire, England, that have attained celeb- 
rity, namely, the short-face, the middle breed, and the large Lancashire 
white. On next page we give an illustration of the short-faced breed. 

This breed of swine may be known by the following characteristics : 
The shortness of the face from the eyes to the end of the snout ; prick 
ears ; small bones ; a good coat of white hair ; cubic in form, with broad 
back and broad hams, well let down. The skin, as well as the hair, is 
white, although an occasional one may be found with a few dark blue 
spots in the skin, but never dark or black hairs. The small breed hogi 
54 



852 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



must have small bones ; a short face ; silky hair ; fine, small, upright ears i 
a comparatively square form ; must have good square hams, the most 
valuable part of the hog ; must carry the meat near the ground ; flat on 
the back \ straight and cubic in form. 

vm. Lancashire Middle Breed. 




This breed is one which partakes of the quality of the small breed and 
the size of the large breed. Middle brdd hogs are got by crossing large 
bred sows with small bred boars, but all attempts to attain the same results 
by reversing the operation, and putting large bred boars to small bred 
sows, have proved failures. The largest of the middle bred sows are used 



8W1NE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 853 

to improve the large breed. A middle bred hog must have a short face, 
and all other good qualities of the small breed, except that they may be 
longer in proportion to their width ; must have thicker legs and longer 
bones to carry the greater size ; should be well haired ( fattening to full 
form often causes the hair to fall off, which must be allowed for.) As 
good a short rule as can be adopted to judge them by is as follows : The 
best middle bred hog should have the greatest possible share of all the 
qualities of the small breed, with the length, and, in a measure, the larger 
bones of the large breed. 

IX. Large Lancashire. 

This variety of swine have large bones, of great height and length, and 
are the largest breed of swine known. They are a true breed, their qual- 
ities have descended from generation to generation — the quality being 
improved by judicious selection. They must be of large size ; great 
length ; flat back, with large square hams, and when fattened, must carry 
their width of back along over the hams ; must have deep and tolerably 
straight sides ; large feet and leg bones ; hair short ; may have a long face, 
but it had better be short, as they fatten better ; may have a large, droop- 
ing ear, but other quality and size being equal, an upright, smaller ear is 
preferred. They usually have a long, thick, strong tail. They must be 
of great weight when fattened. 

American Breeds. 

Sagacious breeders in the United States nearly fifty years ago, saw the 
necessity of establishing breeds of swine that should be eminently adapted 
to the especial requirements where Indian corn and grass must necessarily 
form the principal food of the swine from weaning time until slaughtered. 
Then and until the last twenty years, mere fat was the important product 
in swine, as it was in a degree in cattle. Since that time the universal 
introduction of petroleum has reduced the value of lard and tallow to a 
minimum. Improvements in the art of preserving food fresh has made 
barreled pork, a less necessary product even for long voyages, and the 
attention of the breeders was again turned to the production of as much 
lean meat in their hogs as possible. This naturally led to a reduction in 
the weight of the hog, or at least, if the animal should be capable of 
reaching a heavy weight at maturity, it must also possess the important 
quality of fattening at any age. This has now been fairly met in the 
best English and American breeds. If we were asked to choose the breeds 
from each which would produce the most lean meat for the carcass, we 
should say the Berkshire of English breeds, and the Poland of American 
breeds 



854 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR 

X. Poland China. 
Over the history and characteristics of this breed there has been muob 




controversy. Individual breeders have sought to take undue credit to 
themselves in the establishment of the breed, and have sought undue 



SWINE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 855 

prominence by attaching their own names to the swine of their breeding. 
The facts are, the name Poland-China is a misnomer so far as Poland is 
concerned, for there is not a particle of evidence that a distinctly Polish 
breed of iiojis ever y:ave an infusion of blood. The nearest evidence — 
and this traditionary — to this effect, is, that long ago a sow was bought 
of a Polander, which, proving an excellent breeder, it went by the name 
of the Polander sow. The breed is now largely Indebted to the Chinas 
and Berkshires for their good qualities. Although they certainly have 
an infusion of so-called Irish grazier in them. Why this breed should 
have been called grazier, one can only surmise. They certainly were any- 
thing but grass eaters, but the name made them popular for a time in the 
then far West where grain at that time was scarce. The facts are, the 
Chinese hogs, imported into Ohio in 1816, and bred upon the best native 
stock of the country are the basis of the breed. In 1835 the Berkshire 
was introduced, and in 1839 or 1840 the Irish grazier. These were ex- 
tensively used by the best breeders, on the best descendants of the China 
crosses. Since 1842, there is good evidence to show that new blood has 
not been introduced, but by careful selection, and judicious breeding, in 
Ohio and the West, or, by occasional judicious infusion of Berkshire 
blood, they now leave little to be desired, as a heavy, well meated breed, 
that will fatten kindly at any age. 

Characteristics of Poland-China. 

The best specimens have good length, short legs, broad, straight backs, 
deep sides, flanking well down on the leg, very broad, full, square hams 
and shoulders, drooping ears, short heads, wide between the eyes, of 
spotted or dark color ; are hardy, vigorous and prolific, and when fat are 
models, combining the excellences of both large* and small breeds. 

XI. Chester Whites. 

The Chester Whites originated in Chester county, Pennsylvania, about 
1818, through the importation of a pair of fine pigs from Bedfordshire, 
England, by Captain James Jeffries. These were inter-bred with the 
6est stock then existing in that county, and by careful selections a per- 
manent strain of large, easily fattened, quiet hogs were produced, which 
continued to breed with great uniformity. Something like thirty years 
ago some attempts were made to cross the Suffolk and Berkshire upon 
them, but it was discontinued as not being considered an improvement, 
and the best specimens to-day should be pure white, with no black about 
them whatever. 



856 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



In the West this breed became very popular some years ao^o, and still 
IS in many parts of the Northwest. Farther south, however, in the true 
corn zone, pure white hogs of any breed are not favored. They are 
thought not to stand out-door usage so well as black or nearly black 
swine. Where great weights are required the Chesters will always be 
Uked. 




The following may be given as the characteristics of these hogs : Head 
short and broad between the eyes ; ears thin, projecting forward and 
loppmg at the point ; neck short and thick ; jowl large ; body lengthy 
and deep; back broad; hams full and deep; legs short and well set 
under the body ; coat thin, white and straight ; (if a little wavy it is no 
objection). The tail should be small and with no bristles. 



SWINE, HISTORY AND BREEDS. 857 

XII. Jersey Beds. 

This large and rather coarse breed of hogs have been somewhat 
disseminated in the West. They are certainly a hardy breed, and well 
adapted to new countries where there is good range and mast. Their 
history seems to be as follows : 

The positive origin of this family of swine is unknown. They have 
been bred in portions of the State of New Jersey for upwards of tifty 
years, and with many farmers are considered to be a most valuable family. 
They are of large size and capable of making heavy growth, 500 and 600 
pounds' weight being common. They are now extensively bred in the 
middle and southern portions of New Jersey. In some neighborhoods 
they are bred quite uniform, being of dark red color ; while in other 
sections they are more sandy and often patched with white. They are 
probably descended from the old importations of Berkshires, as there is 
no record of the Tarn worth, the red hog of England, ever having been 
brought into this country, nor is this likely, as the Tarn worth was not 
considered a valuable breed, and was confined to a limited area. The 
Reds resemble the old Berkshires in many respects, but are now much 
coarser than the improved swine of this breed. 

A good specimen of Jersey Red should be red in color, with a snout of 
moderate length, large top ears, small head in proportion to the size and 
length of the body, standing high and rangy on their legs ; bone coarse, 
having tail and brush and hair coarse, inclining to bristles on the back. 

Xin. Cheshires. 

This is a comparatively modern breed, if indeed it is yet fully enough 
established to be called a breed. It has been somewhat disseminated in 
various parts of the United States, and for villagers and small farmers, 
possesses about all the good qualities of the Suffolk, without some of their 
disabilities. They are said to have originated in Jefferson county, New 
York, from a pair of pigs sent from Albany under the name of Cheshire. 
It was probably a pet name for an exceptionally good pair of pigs. 
Since then they have been crossed with Yorkshires and other pure white 
breeds, until of late years by selection they have become uniform in their 
make up. 

The so-called Cheshires are pure white in color, with little hair. They 
are not uniform in this respect, as pigs in the same litter differ widely in 
the amount of hair. The snout is often long, but very slender and fine. 
The jowls are plump, and the ear erect, fine and thin. The shoulders are 
wide and the hams full. The flesh of these hogs is fine-grained, and 



858 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

they are commended on account of the extra amount of mess pork in 
proportion to the amount of offal- The tails of the pigs frequently drop 
off when young. 




IMPROVED CHESHIRE. 



Recapitulation of Breeds. 



The principal English breeds are as they were known twenty years ago, 
the Berkshire, the Essex and the Yorkshire. The Berkshire is a medium 
breed weighing at full maturity up to 500 pounds. There are large and 
small Berkshire, but the medium family is the most valuable. They are 
now bred entirely black except a dash of white in the face and white feet. 

The Essex is all black, or rather a blue black, and will weigh up to 450 
pounds at maturity. They are one of the most stylish of the small 
English breeds, as they are the largest of the small breeds, and to our 
mind the best of the small breeds for the West — quite good feeders, hand- 
some and making good pork. 

The Yorkshires are divided into three classes, small Yorkshires, medium 
Yorkshires, and large Yorkshires. The so called Prince Albert Suffolks 
are small Yorkshires, and the best of the small white breeds. All the 
Yorkshires have occasional dark spots on the skin. The hair, however, 
is white, and these dark spots are not indications of impurity of blood 
but rather the reverse. 

The American breeds, in the best repute, are first, the Poland-China, 



SWINE, HISTORY AND UKEEDIS. 859 

sometimes called, iii Ohio, Magie. Twenty years ago they were coarse 
black and white hogs, with occasional sandy markings. Of late years 
they have been, through careful breeding and selection, refined, and are 
now bred in the West, nearly black, the white, in the most approved 
strains, being distributed pretty equally over the head and body in flecks 
and irregular patches. They are the most widely distributed of any 
American breed in the West, and fully deserve all that is claimed for 
them, as large, quiet, early matured, and kindly feeding hogs. 

The Jefferson county. New York, so called Cheshires, are, as before 
stated, but modified Yorkshires, but in every respect stylish hogs, feeding 
well and making good pork, and are well adapted for small farms and 
for feeding in pens. The so called Hospital breed, or Morgan county 
hog of Illinois, which some years ago gained considerable repute, are un- 
doubtedly, modified Yorkshires, and in no respect superior to that well 
known breed. They were produced by crossing the Suffolk on the best 
■white hogs of that county. Within the last five years they have ceased 
to attract attention. 



CHAPTER n. 



BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 



IMPORTANCE OF SWINE. A BACK WOODS HOG. FfXING AND HOLDING THE 

CHARACTERISTICS. SELECTION ALWAYS IMPORTANT. BREEDING AGE OF 

SWINE. CARE OF BREEDING SOWS. WEANING. MANAGEMENT O*" 

SWINE. ABSOLUTE CLEANLINESS NECESSARY. SUMMARY. 

Importance of Swine. 

The breediuor and manaofement of swine constitutes one of the most 
important agricultural interests in the West, and should do so in the 
South. To be successful none but the best breeds should be allowed on 
the farm. The fecundity of swine leaves no excuse for holding on to 
land pikes and the descendants of semi-wild breeds that must be run 
down by dog and rifle, in order, when they are killed to get a small 
quantity of inferior meat. A boar of any of the improved breeds will 
be sufficient for six or eight sows, and the increase is so astonishing when 
there is no epidemic disease, that it would from a single pair take but 
three years to stock the largest farm. It should be unnecessary to pursue 
this matter further. There is no class of farm stock that pays better, as 
between indifferent and good breeds, than hogs, and the wonder is that in 
some sections of the country farmers still cling to a breed of grunters 
that will always greet you with a snort and a boh-o-o, and which no 
feeding can fill — ^in fact animals like those shown on the following page — 
fully a match for the average dog, always hungry, ready to eat anything 
that falls in their way, even to half grown children occasionally, but 
which when wanted for meat are nowhere within shooting distance. 
860 



1 



SWINE, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 



sei 



The very first requisite, however, in keeping any improved breeds, or 
in fact any breed from which money is to be made, is the best of feeding, 
and that daily, from the time they are born until they are slaughtered. 




A BACK WOODS HOG. 



The hog is simply a machine for making what is to be converted into 
lard, bacon, salt pork and hams. The average daily gain is a gradually 
decreasing quantity from month to month, until after a certain time 
nothing more can be gained in weight. This ought to be sufficient to be 
said upon this point. You can neither breed, nor keep a breed profitably 
by starving or allowing them to shift for themselves. As elsewhere, so in stock- 
raising, it holds true that what costs little to acquire, brings little at sale. Care 
and labor to secure the best will always pay the most. 

Fixing and Holding the Characteristics. 

In breeding swine, however good or perfect the breed, they will surely 
degenerate unless the greatest care in selection is pursued. Many persons 
wonder why it is that from the prolific nature of swine, the country is 
not soon stocked with none but the most superior animals. The simple 
reason is, the want of accurate judgment and care in selection ; the error 
will be plainly seen by noting what we say farther on. Indeed, what has 
been said in previous pages on this general topic will apply equally well at 
this point. Care in selection and breeding is fundamental to success. 



862 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Selection Always Important. 

In animals usually having but one young at a time, the progeny pretty 
uniformly partake of the nature of both parents, and are bred with toler- 
ably uniform results. In animals producing a number of young at a time, 
the progeny will be found to vary very considerably in the same litter. 
Thus the selection of those specimens that partake of uniform and char- 
acteristic excellence becomes of the first importance, since unwise 
selections will result in carrying the breeder farther and farther from the 
excellent points to be perpetuated. Again, heredity, that is throwing 
back to an original type, or rather in the sense in which we use it, inher- 
iting certain fixables, as constitutional vigor, inclination to fat, etc., is 
shown far more clearly in animals having many young at a time, than 
those having only one young. The progeny will not only vary more in 
particular animals, but certain characteristics will reappear by reversion 
after a greater number of generations, in animals having many young at 
a time, and to a greater degree than in those usually having but one. At 
least such is our experience. Hence, as we have stated, absolute necessity 
of the strictest care, is not only necessary in breeding, but in the selection 
of animals for future breeding. 

In domestic animals it is a matter of common observation that the tem- 
per and other peculiarities of individuals are determined by' inheritance. 
Thus, virtually, quietness of disposition, or mildness, tractability or 
viciousness, courage or timidity, are constantly shown. Now from the 
general law that like produces like, and the well determined law that 
variation is a constant integer in all cross bred animals, and from our 
own observation that it is often intensified in animals having many young 
at a litter, the full force, as regards judgment in selection will be appa- 
rent ; and the fact that the country is not soon filled up with superior 
breeds of hogs is due mainly to the want of proper care in the selection 
of the breeding animals, and also from a lack of accurate knowledge and 
ability to nicely discriminate by the breeder, in regard to form, constitu- 
tional vigor, and excellent points in the young animals selected as breeders. 
Absolute accuracy in this respect is in fact possessed by but few individ- 
uals in a generation. There must first be a natural tact inherently 
possessed and digested and matured by years of study and observation. 

Breeding Age of Swine. 

The sow is capable of breeding at about seven months of age, and the 
boar is fit for service at the age of one year. As a rule, however, the 
sow should not be allowed to farrow under the age of fifteen months, and 
the boar is not fit for continued service until he is eighteen months old. 



SWINE, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 863 

The sow may, under exceptional cinmmstances, be made to breed three 
times in a year, but two litters are all that should be allowed. Many of 
our best breeders do not allow but one litter a year, where the produce 
is simply required for making pork, and under certain circumstances this 
is not incompatible with economical management. 

A Warm Farrowing Place Necessary. 

The young pig is even more tender than the new-bom lamb. If they 
get chilled before they suck it is difficult to save them. Where there are 
good conveniences for warming the farrowing pen, sows may have their 
first litter in March, and if put with the boar the fourth day after farrow- 
ing they will generally receive him. This will bring the next litter in 
the Summer, a very good time for pigs to be wintered. If the sow do 
not catch the first time she will not come in heat until the pigs are 
weaned. Yet this will not throw the next litter later than September. If 
good facilities are not had for keeping the early litters warm, the farrowing 
had better be deferred until May, or at the time of grass, according to 
the latitude. • 

Gestation. 

Gestation continues about four months. Three months, three weeks 
and three days is considered the average time, and it is not far out of the 
way. A variation will sometimes be found of thirty days. Young 
animals, and those of feeble constitutions carry their young for a shorter 
time than mature and strong animals, and sows usually remain prolific 
for five or six years, and unless they get overloaded with fat, old sows are 
more constant and careful mothers than young ones. 

Care of Breeding Sows. 

The sows that naturally have a strong tendency to fatten may be bred 
at nine months old, and should be kept breeding pretty steadily, and be 
fed only sufficient to keep them strong and in fair flesh. During gestation 
the sows should be kept in good heart but not fat. When potatoes are 
plenty they can be substituted boiled, and in connection with milk will be 
most excellent feed. In any event they must have plenty of succulent 
food — clover, pig-weed, or other green food in Summer, and roots of 
some kind in Winter. We have always kept a patch of artichokes for 
Fall and Winter, when the ground was not frozen for them to root and 
amuse themselves in. The practice of ringing breeding sows to keep 



864 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

them from rooting is vicious in the extreme. We have never practiced it 
at all with any hogs. To remain healthy they must root some. It is 
their natural instinct. If the pasture be clover, and in the rotation to be 
followed with other crops, the damage by rooting will be light in com- 
parison with the health of the swine. Loss at one point will be fully compen- 
sated at the other. 

When the sow is near her time her food should be of such a nature as 
to keep up her strength and give due sustenance to the young but not 
stimulating. When the pigs are three or five days old, and danger 
of inflammation is past, feed liberally, and with rich sloppy food to 
induce a good flow of milk. But under no circumstances feed so as to 
make the young pigs unduly fat. Skimmed milk and the mill refuse of 
wheat, what is known as mill feed, is best, but in the absence of this 
potatoes, pumpkins and other roots in the Fall, or boiled beets in the 
Spring, with corn meal enough to keep the sow in good heart, makes 
admirable food- When there is grass to be had, the sow should be 
allowed all she will eat. Thus you may get the very best results both in 
the health and continued usefulness of the sow, and the constitutional 
oTowth and vigor of the young pigs. 

Weaning. 

The young pig as -we have shown is born ready for work. That is, it 
has teeth that in a short time are competent to grind and prepare food 
for the stomach. We should wean at six weeks old, allow all the skim- 
med milk and butter-milk possible to the growing pigs, and \vdth it after 
the pig is two months old, a fair proportion of ground wheat skimmings, 
or light rye, barley, etc., ground and made into mush, to be mixed with 
the milk as a tolerably thin slop. Teach the pig early to eat grass, and 
at three months old he will take care of himself on good pasture with all 
the corn he will eat at night. By this means the older stock are early freed 
from care of the young and become ready for other uses. 

At the age of two or three weeks the pigs should be gelded, so they 
may be well over the difficulty before weaning time. Keep rings out of 
the noses of young pigs. They have been the means of spreading con- 
tagious diseases. We prefer slitting the cartilage of the nose, or cutting a 
notch in it at the time of gelding, if it is absolutely necessary that they 
do not root. At all events it is time enough to do the ringing the second 
year, if to be kept over. But by proper care if the litters of pigs come 
early, any of the better breeds may be turned off the next Christmas, and 
from this time until the first of February, become fat, and of as heavy 
weight as is profitable in the markets. 



SWINE, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 

Management of Swine. 



865 



Hogs are not succeptible to cold when fat. Nature in denyino- them 
much hair, has provided them with a thick layer of fat under the skin 
that acts in the same manner to the skin outside as a coverino- of hair in 
other animals . It has also given them the instinct of providing themselvea 




warm beds in sheltered situations in which to lie, and, in addition, given 
them the inclination to lie together in considerable numbers ; and kept 
together, with insuflScient shelter, they will pile together in such numbers 
as to over lie each other, by which the weaker ones are often smothered. 
We have known those who considered themselves sensible men, to get up 
in cold winter nights and go to the hog yard and separate the drove, 



866 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



when so piled. It is about on a par with the whipping and dogging olf 
cattle about a yard at night to get up warmth. A more sensible and 
cheaper plan would be to provide comfortable quarters, where they 
might lie warm, and separate them into gangs, according to age and 
strength. Thus with plenty of fat next the skin, and good liberal feeding, 
very little difficulty will be experienced, in keeping them growing steadily, 
nntil of a sufficient age for the slaughter pen. 

Absolute Cleanliness Necessary. 

Of all farm animals hogs especially must have plenty of water. It 
should also be pure. Swine breeders can not too soon disabuse them- 
selves of the idea that swine are dirty, or filthy feeders, or that they 
naturally incline to wallow in the mud. There are no farm animals nicer 
in the food they eat than swine if allowed to be. It is true, they are 




HAZEL-SPLITTER. 



omnivorous feeders. So is man. Like man, although they eat fish, flesh, 
fowl, vegetables, roots, and grain, they hke it fresh. If forced by hunger 
they will eat disgusting substances, so again will man. The elephant, 
the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and tapir, seek the water to clean and cool 
themselves in Summer, like all pachydermatous animals. The wild men 
like swine will cover themselves with mud to ward off the attacks of biting 
and stinging insects. In their wild state the nearest tree furnishes to 
swine the means of rubbing it off when dry, and the rubbing post fur- 
nishes them the means of cleaning their skins in a state of domesticity. 



I 



SWINE, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 867 

If kept from the attacks of flies, they will not wallow ia the mud but in 
Ihe cleanest water they can find, and stagnant water they will not drink 
at all, unless forced to do so, by dire necessity. 

The sagacious breeder and feeder will understands this ; they also 
understand the danger of malignant diseases attacking their swine when 
forced to wallow and drink impure water. Hence they strive by every 
means in their power that swine are kept away from these causes of 
^disease and death, and thus such would be almost entirely exempt, except 
that there are alwa3^s men enough of the shiftless type in a neighborhood 
whose stock take and spread contagion to their neighbors. We do not 
know how we can illustrate more forcibly the two types of breeders than 
by the cut given of a sow of an improved breed properly kept, and of a 
sow of the "hazel splitting" variety, improperly kept. The one in a 
dry, firm pasture, with plenty of pure water,, the other on a half marsh, 
and apparently made to succumb from miasmatic influences. 

Summary. 

Hogs, and especially pigs in confinement often suffer for want of 
water. No matter how sloppy the food they should always have pure 
water within reach. If they can have a bathing place in Summer it will 
add much to their health, and assist much in fattening. Swine, in con- 
finement, should always have charcoal, bituminous coal, salt and wood 
ashes within reach. They often suffer from acidity of the stomach and 
the remedy being near the swine will always use it. 

Oil cake mixed with the feed of swine when suckling pigs, a gill a day, 
assists the milk secretion. It should not be given to pigs. As they 
begin to eat they should have a trough where they can go and feed but 
which the sow cannot get at. 

Bran is not valuable for swine. Where highly concentrated food is 
given it is well to have a little dry bran in a separate trough, so the hogs 
can take it when they want it. 

If ordinary diarrhoea attacks pigs give a porridge of sweet skimmed 
milk and flour. For constipation give two or three drachms of soap 
dissolved in an ordinary sized tumbler of water, and repeat if necessary 
in eight hours, or give as an injection. It is also a good diuretic and for 
acid stomach. 

Provide a strong scratching post. Bore inch and a half holes at inter- 
vals to accommodate hogs of different sizes, and drive in pins letting 
them project an inch and a half. 

Castrate pigs before they are weaned, say not later than two weeks 
before weaning time. 
55 



CHAPTER m. 



FEEDING AND SHELTER- 



GOOD VS. BAD FOOD. SUMMER FEEDING. OTHER SUMMER FOODS. ROOTS. 

THE GRAINS. FEEDING SOUTH. MAST. FEEDING IN CONFINE- 
MENT. HOG BARNS. A CROSS BARN. A SIMPLE PEN. SDMMARY. 

LIGHT VS. HEAVY HOGS. 

Good VS. Bad Pood. 

Vegetables and grain are the basis of success in the making of pork 
whatever the breed may be. Hogs kept about large stables or distillery 
yards, where they get only offal, or fed in butcher's yards, on the refuse 
offal of the slaughter house, are unfit for human food. They are liable 
to become infested with trichina, and, therefore, no breeder and es- 
pecially no feeder should buy animals from such localities. In fact there 
is only one redeeming feature among the disgusting filth and nastiness in 
which they are fed — ^they are generally provided with pure water, and 
warm shelter. 

Summer Feeding. 

Pasturage is of the first importance. This should be ample. In pas- 
turing swine, but few varieties of grass are required. Clover, both white 
and red, will be the main reliance. In all that region where red and 
white clover are not natural to the soil, and where alfalfa (lucerne) and 
other members of the pulse family do well, these may be substituted. 
Swine take kindly to blue grass, when it is young, and to orchard grass. 
They do not refuse timothy, but timothy has a bulbous root just at the 
surface of the earth. This swine eat, and thus destroy the grass. Rye 
868 



SWINE, FEEDING AND SHELTER. 869 

and oats make good pasturage for hogs. Rye grass and foul meadow 
grass are also well relished. In this respect the feeder should experiment 
with grasses, to be cut and given in the pen, and then feed to such varie- 
ties as do best, and are most eagerly eaten. Of weeds, purslain, (poriu- 
laca oleracea), lambs quarter, also called pigweed, (chenapodium album) 
and the green amaranth, also called pigweed, (^amarantus hybridus) are 
the most common of our native and introduced Aveeds that are valuable 
as green food for swine. There is also a native weed growing in Illinois 
and along the alluvial banks of the Mississippi and northward ; the winged 
pigweed, {cycloma platyphyUium) that is much liked by swine. Yet the 
list of plants eaten by them is not large, about eighty species comprising 
the whole. 

Other Summer Foods. 

Besides clover, the grasses, and weeds, there are other plants that may 
come in durmg the Summer, and be used with profit. Oats and peas may 
be sown together, two bushels of oats and one of peas, together, per 
acre, as early in the Spring as the ground is in fair condition for working. 
The swine may be turned into the field when the crop is ripe, being con- 
fined to given space, by a hurdle fence, which is to be removed as thev 
eat clean. A better way, however, is to harvest and thresh, and feed 
either soaked or dry. Later, Summer squashes and pumpkins will come 
in, to be followed by artichokes in the Autumn. We do not advise any 
of these foods except grass on the score of economy. Corn and grass 
are the cheapest food in all the West, so far as mere cost of production 
is concerned. But unless the health of swine is retained, there is no 
profit. Hence the necessity of these additional foods. 

Boots. 

Eutabagas make ^n excellent Winter food for swine in connection 
with corn ; they are easily and cheaply raised, as we have already stated. 
Parsnips are also generally liked, either raw or cooked. Beets are also 
a good Winter feed boiled with meal. The tops are also occasionally reU 
ished. Cabbage is a cheap and wholesome food ; they are not, however, 
cheaply kept over Winter. They may be used with profit up to the firs^. 
of January. 

The Grains. 

These, after all, must be the main dependence, both in raising and fat- 
tening swine. The kind of grain fed will, of course, depend upon the 



r/70 ttLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 

climate and region where raised. Where corn is a sure crop, it must he 
relied on almost entirely. The assertions of theorists, that it is unfit for 
feeding, except during the short fattening season, although the merest 
twaddle, in the sense they intended it, will, from another point of view, 
be correct. The fattening season of swine should be from the time they 
are weaned until they are slaughtered. Swine for pork should never 
lose in condition from the time they were born until turned off for the 
butcher. The feeding of all the corn they will eat in connection with 
grass and other food, to keep them healthy, and which will apply with 
equal force, whatever the grain fed, will be found not only the most 
economical throughout the West and Southwest, but in all that region of 
country where corn is natural to the soil and climate, or where it may be 
cheaply bought. 

Feeding South. 

In nearly all the country South, corn may be cheaply raised as a part 
of the rotation. Here corn must be the main stay, supplemented by 
such grasses and plants as are natural to the region. The artichoke will 
do well much further south than is generally supposed, and some of the 
tuberous varieties may undoubtedly be found well down to the tropics. 
When it can be profitably cultivated, the Jerusalem artichoke should be 
used. The name Jerusalem is a corruption of the Italian name Girasole, 
meaning sunflower, the botanical name being Helianthus tuberosus, or the 
tuberous rooted sunflower. 

Chafas, a tuberous rooted grass, (Cyperus), has become widely nat- 
uralized in the South, and is highly spoken of for feeding swine, since 
like artichokes, the hogs are left to gather them for themselves, and un- 
like the artichokes, they are most nutritious and fattening. They are 
exceedingly easy to cultivate, but are sometimes said to be difiicult to 
extirpate South. This, however, is probably incorrect, since from their 
very nature, a thorough Summer fallow will kill. North of thirty-nine 
degrees they do not survive the Winter. In fact, if frozen anywhere, 
they are killed. 

Mast. 

In all the jrreat timbered resnon South, tree seeds, acorns, beechnuts, 
chestnuts, the softer shelled hickorynuts, and hazelnuts, form a most val- 
uable food for swine. They should be utilized to their fullest extent. 
So papaws, persimmons, and the other wild fruits of the forests South, 
may be made available in the making of pork. Where hogs can have 



SWINE, FEEDING AND SHELTER. 871 

plenty of range, they will do very well with a little feeding, are generally 
entirely healthy, and upon being put up to fatten, a very little grain tuf^ 
fices, if only attention ha^ been paid to get the proper breed. For the 
South, we believe the Berkshire, or crosses of the Berkshire on the best 
native sows to be one of the most profitable breeds. The Poland-China 
of American breeds will be found most valuable for breeders and raisers at 
the South. 



Feeding in Confinemont. 

In all the great swine growing regions, where from twenty-five to dvs 
hundred hogs are annually fattened and sold from single farms, the 
life of the animals must necessarily be passed out-of-doors. So far as 
the breeding stock, and the first few months of the life of the pigs are 
concerned this is always best, both from an economical and sanitary point 
of view. There are, however, many small farmers, who annually fatten, 
from what they require for family use, up to fifteen or twenty head a 
year, w^ho find it most convenient and economical to feed and fatten both 
in Summer and Winter in pens. All this large class must depend, first, 
on the skim milk, buttermilk and whey, and upon the slop of the kitchen 
for feeding ; second, upon clover, cut and fed, weeds and other refuse 
material about the farm, and lastly and principally on corn either o;round 
or raw. It is better for all this class that the pens when built be planned 
so as to combine ease of handling with security and comfort of the 
animals. 

Hog Barns. 

The hog house need not be an expensive building. For a few bogs it 
may be in the form of a parallelogram, with a passage way in the middle 
five feet wide, with pens opening into roomy yards outside. Each pen 
should be provided with a swing door, hinged at the top, so the hogs in 
passing out and in may raise and lower it themselves. This they soon 
learn to do. The pens may be about eight feet by ten feet, which, if 
kept clean, will accommodate three or four hogs each. Thus, a lange of 
pens on each side ten feet deep and a five feet passage way between will 
require a building twenty-five feet wide. A square building of this size 
will feed twenty-four hogs. If a less number is required to be fed the 
building may be twenty-five feet one way, and, say sixteen feet the other 
way, allowing for pens. If fifty hogs are to be kept it will require six 
pens on a side, and the building, to secure proper accommodation, must be 
twenty-five by forty -eight feet. 



372 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

A Cross Barn. 

If a laro-e number of hogs are to be kept it is better that there be a 
central building twenty-five feet square, sixteen feet of which is to be 
used as a room for the boiler and for storing and preparing the food. 
Extensions from this on every side are to be built twenty-five feet wide, 
and as long as necessary to accommodate any required number of hogs. 
A tisht box on four small iron wheels arranged so it will turn 'short 
corners will carry the food to every pen, which should of course be pro- 
vided with a good trough, into which the feed may be easily poured. 
This with extensions, each forty feet long and twenty-five feet wide, will 
,give you a cross barn, good for from 150 to 160 full grown hogs ; and 
these extensions may be carried out to accommodate 500, if necessary, 
but if more than 100 hogs are to be kept the central building should be 
forty feet square, three stories high, the upper stories used as a granary 
with corn cribs next the outside. Twenty feet square should be given up 
for the storage and stove room below, and the breeding pens placed next 
on account of the greater warmth. In a building of this description near 
Chicago, we for years kept and fed, in connection with a large market 
garden, from 400 to 500 annually, the principal food used being the daily 
waste from large hotel kitchens, which we daily supplied with vegetables, 
the garden furnishing economically the necessary green vegetable food. 
We had no sickness or difficulty worth mentioning. The water supply 
was ample and pure ; the pens were daily cleaned and washed in w^arm 
weather ; the drainage was carefully attended to ; salt and bituminous 
coal was supplied, so the hogs could take either at will, and we always 
had fat hogs to supply city butchers, and the pigs were turned off at 
about eight or nine months old, weighing from 250 to 300 pounds each. 
This was about fifteen years ago, and the breeds then kept were Chester 
county sows, crossed with Yorkshire or Suffolk boars. 

A Simple Pen. 

When swine are only to be kept in pens during the period of final fat- 
tening, and are allowed to run at large in the fields in the Summer, a pen 
fourteen feet wide, and of sufficient length to accommodate the number 
of hogs kept, will suffice. It should be floored tight, and one-half of the 
width allowed for sleeping. These must be closed in and roofed, the 
feeding pen being open to the weather, the whole being divided into com- 
partments or spaces, eight feet one way-, or wide enough for four hogs 
to feed abreast. This also is a good form when not more than a dozen 
hogs are to be kept. 



SWINE, FEEDING AND SHELTEB. 



873 



Still another plan is to select a yard, in a dry, well drained place, 
allowing twenty feet square for each ten hogs ; thus a lot forty feet 
square would accomodate twenty hogs. Along the middle of the pen, a 




BREEDEK IN GOOD FLESH. 



bedding place is built, sixteen feet wide, with a partition in the middle, 
and divided the other way every twenty feet by partitions. The feeding 
place should be floored, eight feet wide, and have a low trough two feet 
wide, along the side for holding ear corn. Unless the season is very 
wet and muddy, hogs do very well thus kept. If wet, they must be kept 
out of the mud by means of hay and litter thrown into the yards from 
time to time, and the sleeping places must be kept well bedded. Kept 
in either of the ways we have designated, your hogs will go to the butcher 
fat, and showing a profit on the right side of the ledger, and your breed- 
ing sows will look like the illustration of a well-bred animal, which we 
give in ordinarily good breeding flesh, on this page. If on the other 
hand, you let your hogs shift for themselves, running wild over the 
prairie, or running about in the woods, they will, as the illustration on 
next page shows, come out pretty much like "Arkansas tooth-picks." Stock 
of this kind may be able to care for itself, but it will yield only a paltry return 
in the market. 



874 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Summary. 



In what we have said in relation to feeding in close pens, we are not to 
be understood as advising the practice on the farm. There should 
be plenty of pasture in Summer, and plenty of pure water ahvays. With- 
out this no one can succeed. There must be protection from insects 
and heat in Summer. The first may be perfectly secured by providing a 
dark place to which the hogs can retire at will. In Winter there must 
be warm, dry and otherwise comfortable shelter provided, and there must 
also be plenty of good food, at all times. Of all animals the hog, at 
least, must not be allowed to lose flesh from the time it is born until it is 
killed. When fat, kill at once, unless the market happens so that it will 
pay to hold for a short time for a turn. As a hog becomes fat, it eats 




"ARKANSAS TOOTH-PICKS." 

less and less, and it also fattens more and more slowly. Nevertheless, 
the same daily animal waste goes on. Many good feeders are so partic- 
ular that they weigh their hogs every tw^o weeks, and note the gain. 
Then they are able to determine just how much their stock is improving, 
and also as to the proper time for turning them off. If not ready, or the 
season and prices are not right, they increase the condition of the food 
given, so that the small quantity taken shall make up in richness what it 
lacks in quantity. This class seldom sell stock over twelve months old, 
and many of our best feeders sell their hogs at ten months old, Avhich 
will turn the scales at from three hundred to four hundred pounds each. 
Such feeders never keep hogs two Summers and one Winter, in order to 
get an average of two hundred pounds each. 



SWINE, FEEDING AND SHELTER. 876 

Light VS. Heavy Hogs. 

Years ago, when lard and side pork were the principal hog products 
looked for, the heavier the hog, the better the price. We once sold a 
hog weighing G50 pounds for fifteen cents a pound. That was in war- 
times, and it brought one cent per pound over the price paid for light and 
well fattened hogs. The same animal to-day, would not bring within a 
cent a pound, of what nice young nine and ten months, well fattened pigs 
would, in any of our princiiDal markets. To get the weight named, the 
hog was fed two years and a half. Take three pigs against this one. 
The difference in the first cost of the three sucklings as against the one, 
would not exceed three dollars. The three pigs will be fed nine months, 
and weigh 600 pounds, — (we have made pigs farrowed in March and 
killed the next January, weigh dressed, up to 380 pounds, and have more 
than once turned off such pigs at ten months old weighing alive over 300 
pounds average) the other must be fed almost three years, and you must 
be a good feeder if you make him weigh 600 pounds. In the first case, 
you have fed nine months each, or twenty-seven months on the three pigs 
for 600 pounds, and in the other case, you have fed thirty-six months for 
the same weight. The one big hog has eaten more corn than the three 
pigs, and yet the three pigs weighing the same as the one will bring about 
six dollars more, giving you three dollars on the original purchase, as be- 
tween the three and one, and a very considerable amount of corn on the 
credit side of your account book. You don't believe it? Examine the 
tables we have given on feeding and turning off cattle young, as against 
feeding until they were mature. We could show many instances fully as 
convincing as this, in the case of hogs ; but why pile up testimony after 
the argument is conclusively established beyond controversy. 



. 



PART VIIT. 
Diseases of Swine. 

CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND CURE. 



CHAPTEE I. 



DISEASES OF SWINE. 



EXPLANATION OF CUT. DIFFICULTY IN ADMINISTERING MEDICINE. GOOD 

NURSING THE ESSENTIAL.— —MALIGNANT AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. MA- 
LIGNANT EPIZOOTIC CATARRH. HOW TO KNOW IT. WHAT TO DO. 

INTESTINAL " HOG CHOLERA." HOW TO KNOW IT. CAUSES. TREAT- 
MENT. PREVENTION. CONTAGIOUS PNEUMO-ENTERITIS. ITS ORIGIN. 



-THE ERYSIPELATOUS FORM.- 



-THE FORM MALIGNANT SORE THROAT.- 



-TRUE CIIARBON. 
- QUIN- 



WHAT TO DO. MALIGNANT ANTHRAX, SPLENIC FEVER. 

CONTAGIOUS PNEUMO-ENTERITIS. INFLAMMATORY DISEASES. 

SEY, OR STRANGLES. RISING OF THE LIGHTS. PNEUMONIA. CATARRH 

IN THE HEAD. DISEASE OF THE SKIN. MEASLES. HOW TO KNOW IT. 

THE LARD WORBI. WHAT TO DO. TRICHINA SPIRALIS. HOW TO 

CUBE. LICE. DIARRHEA. SUMMARY. 




SKELETON OP THE HOG. 

Explanation — -^ — Cervical vertebrae. B, B — Dorsal vertebrae. C— Lumbar 
vertebrae. D — Sacrum. E^ E — Coccygeal bones. F, F— Ribs. G^— Costal 
cartilages, fi— Scapula. /—Humerus, /f, jBT— Radius. L — Uhia. J/— Car- 
pus, or knee. 1. Scaphoid. 2. Semilunar. 3. Cuneiform. 4. Trapezium. 5. 
Trapezoid. 6. Os magnum. 7. Unciform. 8. Pisiforra. N, iV— Large raeta- 

879 



880 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

carpal, or cannon. — Small metacarpal. P, P — Sesamoid bones. Q, Q — 
Phalanges. 1. Os suffraginis, or pastern bone. 2. Os coronal. 3. Os pedis. 
^—Pelvis. (Fore-leg of pig. Phalanges 1, 2, 3). 1. Ileum. 2. Pubis. 3. 
Ischium. /S— Femur. T— Patella. U"— Tibia. F— Fibula. TF— Hock. 1. 
Os calcis. 2. Astragalus. 3. Cuneiform magnum. 4. Cuneiform medium. 5. 
Cuneiform parvum. 6. Cuboid. 3,6. Cubo cuneiform. X — Large metatarsal 
(Hind-leg of pig. Phalanges 1,2, 3). F— Small metatarsal. Z — Head. 1. 
Inferior maxilla. 2. Superior maxilla. 3. Anterior maxilla. 4. Nasal bone. 
5 Molar. 6. Frontal. 7. Parietal. 8. Occipital. 9. Lachrymal. 10. Squa- 
mous-tempoid. 11. Petrous-tempoid. 

DiflB.culty in Administering Medicine. 

No class of farm animals are so difficult to treat in sickness as swine. 
The horse, the cow, and the sheep, may have medicine administered to 
them by an intelligent operator with comparatively little difficulty. Not 
so swine. They resist every effort with their utmost strength, and med- 
icine can only be forced down by main strength, the resistance itself, 
being, in nine cases out of ten more injurious, than the good the medicine 
may do. When it must be administered by the mouth, the best means 
we have ever found, is to place the hog in a narrow pen in which he can 
not turn round, put a slip noose around the upper jaw, turn the medicine 
— in the case of a drench — down from a horn, or when it may be admis- 
sible give it in the form of an injection. In the case of boluses they may 
be laid on the back of the tongue, next the palate, and the animal thus 
made to swallow. 

Good Nursing the Essential. 

For the reason that medicine is so difficult to administer, it is always 
best, when the hog. will eat or drink to disguise the dose in some food or 
drink it likes. In fact our practice has always been, if medicine could 
not be so administered, to let good nursing and care be the chief depend- 
ence in bringing the animal safely through. 

In the case of those malignant forms of epidemic and contagious dis- 
eases which, under the common name of hog cholera, have so frequently 
scourged the West within the last few years, unless the affected animals 
are treated during the first or symptomatic stage, the only course to pur- 
sue is to isolate every diseased animal from the herd as soon as found, 
and remove the well animals to a separate place where they are not in 
danger, and above all where they cannot come in contact with other hogs ; 
then with such medicine as they will eat in food or drink trust to nature 
and good care to bring them safely through. 



i 



SWINE, THEIR DISEASES. 881 

So far there has been but little success attendhig the treatment of these 
diseases, probably from the fact that the incubative stage of the disease 
was passed and the animals beyond the reach of remedial means before 
the owners were aware that the animals were attacked. In the treatment 
of the diseases of swine, we shall first describe fully the three principal 
forms of those malignant diseases termed hog cholera, and for which 
there are so many specifics advertised — some of them by men so ignorant 
as to call all distempers hog cholera, and prescribe identical treatment 
for diseases that require entirely different remedies. 

Malignant and Contagious Diseases. 

There are three principal forms of malignant diseases, called hog 
cholera. The first is malignant epizootic catarrh, which in 1875 and 
1876 swept over Illinois, Missouri, and neighboring States, destroying 
vast numbers of swine ; next the disease noticed by Professor Kline, of 
England, and described as contagious pneumo-enteritis ; the third, anthrax 
and splenic fever and a form of intestinal fever closely allied to the last 
if not identical, and which Dr. Law designates as intestinal fever or hog 
cholera. 

Malignant Epizootic Catarrh. 

This disease, if it does not originate in filthy yards and putrid pens, is 
amazingly developed there. The poison germs find a congenial home in 
the mucous membrane of such hogs, and in those whose skins are so 
dirty that the natural perspiratory acts cannot take place, so if perspira- 
tion be checked during the prevalence of this epidemic, or the swine be 
exposed to sudden changes or the chilly night air, it will surely predispose 
them to attacks. 

How to Know It. 

There is a short, hoarse cough, difficulty of breathing, with panting of 
the flanks. The head is held in a stretched and drooping position ; there 
is fever, a stiff, tottering gait, sometimes running at the nose, often 
efforts to vomit, generally constipation, but at times diarrhcea. In this 
form the disease is shown in the dead animal by inflammation of the 
lining membrane of the nose and upper part of the throat, thence to the 
windpipe and lungs, which are more or less solidified. 

A second form of this disease has a short cough, not so pronounced as 
in the first form, and there is less oppression in breathings but there is 
more decided paralysis in the hind quarters and the gait is more tottering. 
There is at first constipation, followed by a profuse and fetid diarrhea. 



882 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The disease is spending itself in the stomach and bowels. The animal 
arching its back and especially the loins from the intensity of the pain. 
The brain is often affected so there is partial or total blindness and 
aimless movements. So also the glands will be enlarged and sometimes 
scrofulous ulcers will show in different parts of the body. The dead ani- 
mal shows the lining membrane of the intestines inflamed and degenerated. 
The spleen enlarged, dark, and soft ; the liver diseased, and often water 
exudations in the chest and belly. The duration in either forin is from 
five to fifteen days. 

What to Do. 

If the disease has progressed so as to show the latter symptoms we 
have described, kill, and bury the animal at once, and deeply. In any 
event separate the animals showing the slightest symptoms from the rest 
of the herd, and remove the well ones to comfortable and dry and well 
ventilated quarters, and give pure water and good, easily digested food. 
As soon as the first symptoms are discovered give an emetic as follows : 

No. 1. 15 to 20 Grains powdered white hellebore, 

>i Pint milk. 

Mix for a full-grown hog, and let it drink ; if it will not, turn it down 
with a horn as previously described. This having vomited the hog, in a 
couple of hours after give two or three grains of tartar emetic, if the 
trouble is in the lungs ; if in the bowels, two or three grains of calomel ; 
either medicine to be given in the half of a roasted potato or apple if the 
animal will eat, or to be enveloped in tallow or lard and laid on the root 
of the tongue and the animal made to SAvallow. Repeat the dose twice a 
day until relief is obtained. According as the lungs or bowels are af- 
fected apply to the sore place the following blistering ointment, heating 
over a moderate fire, for half an hour and stirring to mix : 

No. 2. 1 Oz. powdered cantharides, 

4 Oz. olive oil. 

Rub in well and repeat the application if no blister is drawn. If the 
animal improves, give every day for a few days the following: 

No. 3. 20 Grains sulphate of iron, 

30 Grains carbonate of potash. 

This, when the lungs have been the seat of disease ; if in the bowels, 
omit the carbonate of potash. Professor Townsend thinks that in many 
cases the liver is torpid, and thus blood poisoning takes place. When 



SWINE, THEIR DISEASES. 883 

the attack commences with copious and dark discharges from the bowels, 
he recommends to give at once : 

No. 4. 20 Grains podophyllin. 

2 Drachms bicarbonate of soda. 

Or, if constipation be present : 

No. 5. 1 Ounce castor oil, 

1 Drachm oil of turpentine. 

Both to be given in a pint of milk or gruel. 

Intestinal "Hog Cholera." 

In relation to this disease, undoubtedly analogous to the one last de- 
scribed. Dr. James Law thinks it is a specific contagious fever of swine, 
attended by congestion, exudation, blood extravasation, and ulceration of 
the membrane of the stomach and bowels. That is, fetid diarrhcea, gen- 
eral heat and redness of the surface, and on the skin and mucous mem- 
brane spots and patches of a scarlet, purple or black color. It is fatal in 
from one to six days, or ends in a tedious, uncertain recovery. 

How to Know It. 

Incubation ranges from a week to a fortnight in cold weather, to three 
days in warm. It is followed by shivering, dullness, prostration, hiding 
under the litter, unwillingness to rise, hot, dry snout, sunken eyes, un- 
steady gait behind, impaired or lost appetite, ardent thirst, increased 
temperature (103 degrees to 105 degrees F.), and pulse. With the oc- 
currence of heat and soreness of the skin, it is suffused with red patches 
and black spots, the former disappearing on pressure, the latter not. 
The tongue is thickly furred, the pulse small, weak and rapid, the breath- 
ing accelerated and a hard, dr}^ cough is frequent. Sickness and vomiting 
may be present, the animal grunts or screams if the belly is handled, the 
bowels may be costive throughout, but more commonly they become 
relaxed about the third day and an exhausting foetid diarrhoea ensues. 
Lymph and blood may pass with the dung. Before death the patient 
loses control of the hind limbs, and isof£en sunk in complete stupor, with 

muscular trembling, jerking, and copious and involuntary motions of the 
bowels. 

Causes. 

It is mainly propagated by contagion, though faults in diet and man- 
agement serve to develop it. The infection is virulent, and may, it 

ha 



884 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

is supposed, be communicated by the wind, and is with difficulty de- 
stroyed in hog-pens, fodder, bedding and other articles of contact. 

What to Do. 

Treatment should not be permissible, unless in a constantly disinfected 
atmosphere. Feed barley or rye, or in case these raise the fever, corn 
starch made with boiling water ; give to drink fresh cool water, slightly 
acidulated with sulphuric acid. For the early constipation give a mild 
laxative (castor oil, rhubarb), and injections of warm water, to be fol- 
lowed up with nitrate of potassa and bisulphate of soda, of each 20 grains 
at a dose. If the patient survives the first few days and shows signs of 
ulceration of tlie bowels, by bloody dung, or tenderness of the belly, give 
oil of turpentine fifteen to twenty drops night and morning. Follow up 
with tonics and careful, soft feeding. 

Prevention. 

Kill and bury the diseased ; thoroughly disinfect all they have come in 
contact with ; watch the survivors for the first sign of illness, test all sus- 
picious subjects by means of a clinical thermometer introduced in the 
re(rtum, and separate from the herd if it shows 103 or more degrees Far- 
anheit. And as soon as distinct signs of the disease are shown hill and 
hury deep. Feed vegetable or animal charcoal, bisulphate of soda, car- 
bolic acid or sulphate of iron to the healthy swine, and avoid all suspected 
food or places, or even water which has run near a diseased herd. All 
newly purchased pigs should be placed at a safe distance in quarantine, 
under separate attendants, until their health has been surely established 
as sound. 

Contagious Pneumo-enteritis. 

This disease known commonly also as *'hog cholera," "purple," "blue 
disease, "etc., is a contagious inflammation of the lungs and bowels, accom- 
panied with red and purple blotches of the skin, the last described being 
one of relative forms of this disease. 

It8 Origin. 

It is supposed to be caused by extremes of temperature and wet seasons, 
feeding on low or swampy soils, impure water, filthy feeding pens. 
"Whether these causes originate the disease or not they incline the system 
to infections from the subtle poison which Dr. Klein, an eminent English 



SWINE, THEIR DISEASES. 

veterinarian, has proved to be due to a minute vegetable organism, 
(bacillus) found in the serous fluids, and tissues of animals infected. 
M. Roche Lubin, a French veterinary authority says the disease will dis- 
appear if proper sanitary means are used, protection from the sun and 
rain, well ventilated quarters, and clean bedding, often renewed, with 
pure water and wholesome food. We have been thus particular in quot- 
ing, to intensify what we have repeatedly said, cleanliness and care. 

How to Know It. 

There are two principal symptomatic forms which are important to be 
noticed, as follows ; 

The Erysipelatous Form. 

The animal at first is dull, loses his appetite, lies down and moves 
unwillingly. He hangs his head, and sometimes makes efforts to vomit. 
The bowels at this time are generally constipated, the excrement being 
hard and dark colored ; cough and difficult urination. 

The next day or in a few hours, even, the characteristic symptom of 
the disease shows itself. This consists in the appearance of dark red or 
purple blotches, passing into a bluish-black color. Once seen, they 
cannot be mistaken. Their most frequent seats arc the ears, throat, 
neck, breast and inside the fore legs. If he is a white hog the discolora- 
tions are very visible. With these there is often a discharge from the 
nose of a dark purple fluid. Soon his breathing becomes panting and 
labored ; he is palsied in his hind quarters, and if he is driven up runs 
reeling with his hind legs and his head dropped to the ground. At this 
stage a fetid diarrhoea sometimes sets in. The fatal termination is reached 
in one or three days. 

The Form with Malignant Sore Throat. 

The general symptoms at the commencement are the same ; and the 
appearance of the throat has that same deep red, passing into dark purple 
hue, which we have just noticed in the erysipelatous variety. But the 
obstructions to the functions of breathing and swallowing naturally pro- 
duce a train of characteristic symptoms not seen in the former case. 
There are attempts to vomit, difficulty in swallowing, and labored breath- 
ing from the first, the sensation of chokina: beinjr so distressins: that the 
animal will sit on its haunches, like a dog, gasping for breath, opening 
its mouth wide, and protruding a livid and swollen tongue. Sometimes 
the swelling about the larynx is so sudden and considerable that the ani- 



886 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

mal is choked to death in less than an hour, and before hardly any other 
symptom has had time to manifest itself (oedema of the larynx). 

What to Do. 

The cheapest remedy with animals distinctly attacked, is to kill at 
once, and bury deeply out of sight, to prevent contagion. If the animals 
are valuable, isolate them from all danger of spreading the contagion ; 
give two to three ounces of castor oil, and as soon as it operates, give 
twenty grains of nitrate of potash, and twenty grains nitrate of soda, — 
mixed for a dose — two or three times a day. Give also powdered char- 
coal in the drink, and if the bowels are swollen and tender give twenty 
drops of turpentine in a little gruel, as may be needed. The prescription 
of M. Lubin, and one of the most valuable known is : 

No. 6. 10 Grains powdered camphor, 

1 Drachm nitrate of potash, 
5 Grains calomel. 

Mix and give in a little gruel three times a day, omitting the calomel 
after the third dose. 

The local treatment should be attended to. Foment the swollen part 
with hot water saturated with copperas (sulphate of iron). If there is 
gangrene, saturate the surrounding tissues with turpentine and sweet oil, 
and attend strictly to the general sanitary conditions of the hospital or 
place where the animals, both sick and well are kept. Professor Wil- 
liams advises the use of chlorate of potash as superior to all other medi- 
cines. His prescription is : 

No. 7. 2 Drachms chlorate of potash, 

>a Pint water. 

Professor Turner, the well known Illinois scientist and extensive 
farmer, advises the following as having been successful with him as a 
preventive, and if taken in the early stages of the diarrhoea, as a cure ; 

No. & 2 Lbs. flowers of sulphur, 

2 Lbs. sulphate of iron, 
2 Lbs. madder, 

>i Lb. black antimony, 
^Lb. nitrate of potash, 
2 Oz, arsenic. 

Mix with twelve gallons of slop, and give a pint to each hog ; this quan- 
tity being for 100 hogs. 

Our best word of advice is, if the affected hogs cannot be made to take 
the remedies in their food or drink, since it is a question of profit and 



SWINE, THEIR DISEASES. 887 

loss simply, then kill, bury at once, and disinfect promptly. For the 
means of disinfecting, see chapters on contagious diseases in cattle. If 
we had simply said kill and bury, our readers would not have been satis- 
fied. Thus we have given much point to remedies ; yet it will again bear 
repeating: In all contagious diseases of animals, of a malignani type, it 
is cheapest and most humane to kill and bury quickly and deeply. 
We have never found any remedy effective once it assumes a malignant 
form. Unfortunately, there are too many careless or penny wise persons 
who will not kill, and who constantly spread contagious diseases. 

Charbon, Malignant Anthrax. In Swine, Splenic Fever. 

It has been denied that this disease attacks swine. Since it is a blood 
poison known to attack various animals, and which may be communicated 
to man, there seems to be no good foundation for the assertion. In this 
country there has not been sufficient systematic investigation to separate 
the names of the true Anthrax from what is popularly known as hog 
cholera. The distinction between Anthrax (Charbon) and contagious 
pneumo-enteritis is stated explicitly by Dr. Klein as follows : 

TRUE CHARBON. CONTAGIOUS PNEUMO-ENTERITIS. 

Period of incubation, or latency. Period of incubation from two to 
from a few hours to three days. five days and more. 

Easily transmissible to other spe- Rarely and with difficulty transmit- 
cies of animals. ted to other species. 

Spleen always enlarged, and often Spleen rarely enlarged or otherwise 
broken down. chansfed. 

Blood after death dark and fluid. Blood after death of ordinary ap- 
pearance. 
Bacillus anthracis in the blood. No bacillus anthracis in the blood, 

but numberless bacilly in the 
serum of the throax and abdomen . 
Lungs and bowels frequently not Lungs and bowels always both in- 
implicated. Cough may be present. flamed. Cough always present. 
The discoloration local, and of a The red or purple color diffused 
true carbuncular appearance. over the surface, and of an 

erysipelatous appearance. 

The most common form of anthrax in pigs is popularly called "white 
bristle." There is a carbuncular swelling, usually on the throat, pre- 
senting the features of color already described. The bristles on the spot 
turn white and brittle, whence the name just given. The swelUng extends 



888 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

inward, involving the windpipe and gullet, causing difficulty of breathing • 
and swallowing, and at length death in convulsions through suffocation. 
Occasionally the true apoplectic or splenic form of charbon appears, and 
also the variety which attacks the tongue and mouth, both acute and 
quickly fatal, the apoplectic form often killing almost instantly. The, 
flesh of all animals dying of any form of this disease, as previously 
stated, is poisonous, and the blood and discharges capable not only of 
spreading the disease among others of the same species, but also, if in- 
oculated into the human system, of bringing on that mortal malady, 
"malignant pustule." The treatment, if treatment for so fearful and 
fatal a disease may be allowed, should be essentially the same as that 
prescribed in contagious pneumo-enteritis. As a preventive the recipe of 
Prof. Turner may be used. We advise to give medicine if only early 
symptoms be observed, but if animals be distinctly attacked to Jcillimme'- 
diately, bury out of sight, and disinfect thoroughly. 

Inflammatory Diseases. 

Swine are from their nature, and the usual manner in which they are 
kept, quite subject to coughs, colds, quinsy, and inflammatory diseases, 
especially of the lungs. 

Quinsy, or Strangles. 

This is a disease quite common and fatal. It is an imflammation of the 
glands of the throat, (tonsils) and often kills quickly through suffocation. 
If in feeding them there be found difficulty in swallowing, or protrusion 
t)f the tongue, and slavering from the mouth, and if there be a swelling 
under the neck and lower jaw, lose no time, cast the pig so he may be 
held firmly, and with a lancet or sharp knife, scarifying the skin of the 
throat deep enough to draw blood freely. Foment the parts with cloths 
wet with hot water and partially wrung out, repeatedly applied to induce 
bleeding, and reduce the inflammation, while an assistant prepares the 
following injection : 

No. 9. 4 Oz, sulphate of magnesia, 

2 Drachms oil o( turpentine, 
>i Pint soap euds. 
Mix. 

With a feather fastened to a small rod, the hog's mouth being held open, 
swab the tonsils and inside of the throat as far as can be reached, with 
equal parts of lard oil and turpentine, or if the hog will eat, give doses 
of two tea-spoonfuls each in a pint of gruel. 



SWINE, THEIR DISEASES. 889 

Bising of the Lights. 

This is the name applied to an ordinary cold. To cure this, keep the 
animal warm, feed well, and rub mustard, moistened with vinegar, on 
the throat and chest. If it does not yield, give an ounce of tar daily, by 
putting a slip noose over the snout, opening the mouth, and placing the 
tar well back on the tongue with a narrow wooden paddle. 

Pneumonia. 

The symptoms of inflammation of the lungs are, quick and laborious 
breathing, loss of appetite, shivering of body and limbs, more or less 
severe cough ; and the animal will not eat. The remedy is to keep the 
animal thoroughly warm and quiet. Rub the preparation of mustard and 
vinegar on the chest, and give internally, 

No. 10. 2 Drachms nitrate of potash, 

2 Drachms bisulphate of soda. 

Mix in a pint of gruel if the animal will eat. If not turn down from a 
horn. 

Catarrh in the Head, 

Commonly called snuffles. Give the animal a clean, dry, warm pen, and 
feed and water well ; soft food being preferable. 

Disease of the Skin. 

Swine are essentially liable to diseases of the skin, when kept in con- 
finement, unless pains be taken to do for them what they cannot do for 
themselves, except where they have their liberty. 

Measles. 

Measles in swine have nothing in common with the disease of the same 
name in the human subject. The name is given to a parasitic affection, oc- 
casioned by the hog taking the eggs of the tapeworm, either in grazing, 
where they have been dropped with the excrement of the dog, or from 
feeding on pastures manured with human excrement. These eggs hatch 
and work their way into the tissues and become encysted, and if the porlf 
of such animals is eaten, insufficiently cooked to destroy them, by man, 
they transfer the tapeworm. In fact, it is not certain that ordinary cook- 
ing does destroy all, therefore it is never safe to eat measly pork. The 
appearance of the pork is owing to the presence of minute cysts, the size 
pf grains of barley, distributed through the muscular and other tissues. 



890 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

How to Know It. 

There may or may not be, but generally is, a discharge from the nose, 
running of the eyes, weakness of the hind parts, and general ill health. 
By examining the skin, small watery pimples will be found of a pink or 
red color. The remedy is undoubtedly beyond the reach of medicine, 
though a so-called specific is small doses of sulphur and saltpetre, given 
daily for weeks. The prevention is, to put no human excrement on graz- 
ing- fields, to keep dogs clear of tapeworm by an occasional vermifuge, to 
bury all excrement of dogs found in the pastures, and to kill all stray and 
worthless curs. 

The Lard Worm. 

There is another parasite of the hog, the lard worm (Stephanarus Den- 
tatus), from one to one and three-quarters of an inch long, which is 
occasionally found in all parts of the body ;of swine is frequent in the 
liver, kidneys and fat around the ribs, and in various organs of the body, 
including the heart. When present in large numbers, especially in the 
kidneys, its eggs may sometimes be discovered in the urine, by means of 
the microscope. Another worm, Eustrongylus Gigas, also inhabits the 
kidneys ; both may produce weakness of the back, but it would not be 
safe to treat for these parasites, unless this was surely determined by 
the microscope. 

What to Do. 

Do nothing. Various remedies have been prescribed, such as small 
doses of sulphur and salt, given daily for several weeks, or small doses 
of salt and turpentine. Neither have certainly been known to do any 
good. Minute doses of arsenic, one-eighth of a grain, given daily for 
two or three weeks, so it may be taken up by the system, would be the 
proper course indicated. The better way is to prevent their getting 
measly, by keeping the diseased ones entirely from the well ones, aud the 
young away from the old. 

Trichina Spiralis. 

This minute parasite is capable of infesting all domestic animals, includ- 
ing man. The mature and fertile worm lives in the intestines of the 
animals, and the immature worm in cysts in the muscle. The eating of 
rats, and other vermin, and slaughter house offal is the prolific source 
from whence they come. The prevention is obvious. They are rarely 
found in western farm-raised, corn-fed hogs. There is no danger from 
eating pork infected with trichina, if it be thoroughly cooked. There is 



SWINE, THEIR DISEASES. 891 

no means of discovering them in flesh, except by the microscope. Eat 
none but corn-fed pork, and that cooked done. Rare cooked pork in any 
form whatever, is an abomination, and pork fed in slaughter house yards 
and distilleries should warrant their owners being sent to the penitentiary. 

Mange, or Scab. 

This is caused by the presence of a minute insect, sarcoptes suis, trans- 
missible to man, and should not be allowed in any herd of swine. 

What to Do. 

As soon as discovered, rub the infested animals thoroughly with soft 
soap, let it remain an hour, and wash off with warm water using a good 
brush, let the animals dry, and apply the following ointment : 

No 11. 1 Pint train oil, 

2 Drachms oil of tar, 
1 Drachm petroleum. 

Mix with sufficient flower of sulphur to make a thick paste. This 
shouM be well rubbed in, and remain on three days. Then wash thor- 
ough y with strong soap suds, dry, and change to quarters perfectly clean, 
burn ill bedding, and cleanse the quarters thoroughly with carbolic acid 
and vater. The carbolic liquor of gas works is good, of which there 
should always be a barrel on the farm. It is cheap. Thin down slaked 
lime with it, and thoroughly paint all infected places. 

Lice. 

If lice are found on swine, it is a sign that something is wrono*. We 
have never seen them on well conditioned swine. When thev occur from 
any cause, sponge the animal freely with crude petroleum, or kerosene, 
and give a little sulphate of iron, (copperas) one quarter drachm a day, in 
the feed. Let the food also be ample and nourishing. Another efficient 
and safe remedy for killing lice is Scotch snuff, rubbed up with lard, and 
applied where the lice are found. 

Diarrhea. 

Diarrheal affections often attack young pigs during their suckino- sea- 
son, generally in the first week of their life — and often causes their 
death. Usually the cause is due to diseased milk of the sow, either 
from bad food, or other causes. If so, change the food. In any case, 
the remedial means must be used with the sow. Place charcoal and salt 
where sow and pigs may get it, and prepare the following powder : 



892 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

No. 12. 2 Pounds fenugreek, powdered, 

2 Pounds anise seed, powdfered, 

1 Pound gentian, powdered, 
, 2 Ounces carbonate of soda, 

2 Pounds chalk, powdered. 

Give a table-spoonful of this in the food, every time the sow is fed. 

Summary. 

From what we have said the reader will easily perceive that we have 
not much faith in remedial means in contagious diseases of swine. The 
same holds good with any animal when once the disease is pronounced, 
and of a malignant type — unless the animal be so valuable that it will 
pay to call a veterinary surgeon. Even then in the malignant forms of 
the diseases described,, and which are known under the popular misnomer 
of "Hog Cholera," killing and burying is the cheapest and altogether 
the most humane. The danger of spreading ; the difficulty of isolation ; 
and the next to impossibility of treating a hog too sick to eat, but never 
too sick to be contrary, or resist to the full extent of their power, and 
the ordinarily small cost of swine per head should be well considered in 
the treatment of swine. Use proper discretion in treating them, but 
do not hesitate a moment in killing, when the disease is malignant, and 
in ordinary cases remember that if the hog will not take his physic 
kindly in his gruel, better let nature and good nursing perfect the cure 
than to violently force medicine down. Please remember the value of 
good nursing in human patients. To reinforce this we ma}'^ state the 
fact that in France, long continued experiments in hospitals, with many 
patients, treated under the various systems of medicine, a greater pro- 
portion recovered with no medicine and good care and nursing^ than did 
under medication with ordinary hospital care and nursing. This 
may not have been complimentary to the hospital management, yet in no 
country in the world are they better or more conscientiously managed. 

The necessity of good nursing in the case of swine is no less imperatiya 
than in that of human beings, and its good results are as manifest. 



PART IX. 

POULTRY. 

HISTORY, BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS 
AND MANAGEMENT. 



POULTKY. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY AND WILD TYPES. 




CRBVE COEUR COCK AND HBN. 



Origin of Domestic Fowls. 
The first domestication of the farm yard fowl is lost in the obscurity of 
the past. We have not even tradition to guide us. There is a legend 

895 



896 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




AlKXICAN WILD TUBKKY. 



POULTRY, HISTORY, ETC. 



897 



that Gomer, the son of Japhet, took his name from the cock, and hence 
it has been inferred that he was the first to domesticate the species. As 
well might some future historian attribute the domestication of various 




wild and domestic animals of our time to the savage Indian, whose fancy 
leads him to accept the name of various wild beasts and birds as his owu. 



898 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The fact is, the domestication of wild fowls is exceedingly easy, as has 
been proved within the last three hundred years by the domestication of 
the wild turkey of America, {^meleagris) of which there are but two spe- 
cies known, M. Occellata, a native of Mexico and Honduras, and M. 
Gallopavo, from which our common domestic varieties have descendedo 
Later the American wild goose, (^anser canadensis) , a distinct species from 
the gray legged goose of the North of Europe, and the supposed ancestor 
of the common white or gray goose, and the Embden or Bremen goose. 

Besides Europe and America, Asia and Africa have furnished us with 
four sub-varieties of geese, three of which are called China geese, the 
fourth being the African or Hong Kong variety. 

Africa has also furnished us with the Guinea fowl,(iVwm/c?m meleagris) 
called Pintado by the Spanish. It is a native of Northern Africa, where 
it is still found wild in large numbers, in some parts. The Pea fowl, 
(Pavo cristatus) has also been known from the remotest antiquity and is 
often used by ancient writers as an emblem of pride and arrogance, and 
it may be added, what is also true of the arrogant and strutting turkey, 
it is as cowardly as it is arrogant and cruel. 

The pheasant may here be noticed as a breed long half domesticated, 
and yet never brought jDcrfectly under the domestication of man. The 
probable reason for this is that like the Peacock, they have always been 
considered more ornamental than useful. There are four or live distinct 
and beautiful species, that as ornamental breeds in parks should be more 
extensively bred than they are. 

The Swan is another breed long known in history and yet which cannot 
be considered of special value, except as ornaments in artificial lakes in 
the parks and grounds of the wealthy. Their dying song is often quoted 
from classic literature ; so far no one has yet been charmed with its song 
in modern times, which may prove one of two conclusions, cither the 
ancients were satisfied with a very low order of vocality, or else the mod- 
ern taste for musical sounds has become too refined to appreciate the 
notes of the swan either in health or sickness. 

The duck seems to have been one of the most easily domesticated of 
fowls, and if the varieties are not excessively multiplied, it is because they 
are not considered a delicacy, and comparatively little used as food. 
Nevertheless, we think them underestimated. Some varieties are very 
beautiful in plumage ; they are handsome in the water, and their flesh is 
by no means to be despised. Among the most valuable varieties are the 
Aylesbury ducks, a prominent English breed, an illustration of which 
we srive. 



POULTRY, HISTORY, ETC. 



899 



Of the progenitors of barn-yard fowls (Gallus), there are several wild 
species. Among these may be mentioned the Sonnerat fowl, discovered 
by the naturalist of that name in the Ghautes, which separates Malabar 
from Coramandel, a thoroughly wild species never yet tamed. Sonnerat 
was probably mistaken in supposing they were the primitive type of our 




domestic tribe. Damphier had previously foimd wild cocks in the islands 
of the Indian Archipelago, that are now known to nearly approximate 
ours. The Bankiva species in Java, and the Kulm or gigantic cock of 



57 



900 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Sumatra and Southern Asia — the jungle fowl of the continent of India, 
may also lay claim to being the progenitors of our domestic fowls, as 
well as the species named after the egotistic Sonnerat. In India our 
farm fowls are believed to have sprung from the jungle cock and wild 
species of Malay and Chittagoney. 




GALLUS SO^XKKATII. 



Our Bantams are undoubtedly sprung from the Bankiva jungle fowl. 
Our large Asiatic from the great Malay and Chittagong races through 
long generations of breeding and selection in China. Whatever the races 
from whence they sprung, the wild types are now very scarce and diffi- 
cult to find, while domestic fowls, in their almost infinite varieties, are 
found not only in every farm-yard and village lot, but are bred exten- 
sively and successfully in our largest cities. 

But wild fowls, of the genus Gallus, are also natives of the Brazillian 
forests of America. Oliver de Serres writes of them as follows : 

*'In traveling over the gloomy and inextricable forests of Guiana, when 
the dawn of day began to appear, amidst the immense forests of lofty 
trees which fall under the stroke of time only, I often heard a crowing 



POULTRY, HISTORY, ETC. 



901 



similar to that of our cocks, but only weaker. The considerable distance 
which separated me from every inhabited place, could not allow one to 
think this crowing produced by domesticated birds ; and the natives of 
those parts, who were in company with me, assured me it was the noise 
of wild cocks. Every one of the colony of Cayenne, who has gone very 
far up the country, gives the same account of these wild fowl. I have 
eeen one myself. They have the same forms, the fleshy comb on the 
head, the gait of our fowls, only that they are smaller, being hardly 
larger than the common pigeon ; their plumage is brown or rufous. 




HEAD OF SINGLE-WATTLED BRAHMA FOWL. 



HEAD OF BREDA, OR GUELDRE. 



Before this the wild fowls of America had been mentioned. The 
Spaniard, Acosta, provincial of the Jesuits of Peru, has positively said 
that fowls existed there before the arrival of his countrymen, and that 
they were called in the language of the country, talpa^ and their eggs 
ponto. We are not aware that this species has ever been brought into a 
state of domesticity, or that the wild species has ever been taken and 
reared. The wilds of the great South American forests are yet as a 
sealed book, in many respects, to the naturalist. Under the regime of 
the present practical and scholarly Emperor, this, in Brazil, is being 
changed, and gradually this immense territory will be made to yield not 
only increased stores to our ornithological knowledge, but also in other 
departments of practical art and science. 

Our domestic poultry may be divided into four groups, each of which 
will be separately considered. 



902 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

1. Our Common Barn-yard fowls. 

2. Asiatic fowls. 

3. Games, including Game Bantams - 

4. Pet Bantams. 

In the first group we shall notice English, American and continental 
families. In the second group all Asiatic breeds. In the third group all 
the more important Games, and in the fourth group all the better known 
small varieties of Bantams, except Games, both smooth and feathered 
legged. 

On the preceding page we give illustrations of two curious varieties 
in domestic fowls, one in a sub-family of Brahmas, the other in a family 
of fowls of Dutch origiu. 



CHAFTEB n. 



VABIETIES OP BABN-YABD FOWLS. 



I. SOREING FOWLS. U. SILVER GREY DORKINGS. HI, BLACK DORKINOS. — IV. FAWH- 

COLORED DORKINGS. V. BOLTON GREYS. — — VI. DOMINIQUE FOWLS.^— VII. PLYM- 
OUTH ROCKS. Vin. THE OSTRICH FOWLS. — — IX. HAMBURG FOWLS. X. BLACK 

HAMBURGS. XI. LEGHORNS. ^XII. WHITE LEGHORNS. XIU. SPANISH FOWLS. 

XIV. FRENCH FOWLS. XV. THE HOUDANS. XVI. LA FLECHB FOWLS. XVII. THB 

CREVE COEURS. XVIII. LARGE ASIATIC BREEDS. XIX. THB CHITTAGONGS. XX. 

BUFF COCHINS. XXI. PARTRIDGE COCHINS. XXH. WHITE COCHINS. XXnX. 

BRAHMA FOWLS. XXIV. LIGHT BRAHMAS. ^— XXV. FRIZZLED FOWLS. XXVI. SILK> 

IKS. XXVII. BREDA, OR GUELDRE FOWLS. XXVIII. GAME FOWLS. 1. BROWN* 

BREASTED REDS. 2. EARL DERBY GAME. 3. DUCK-WINGED GAME. 4. WHITB 

GEORGIAN GAME. 5. GAME BANTAMS. 6. OTHER BANTAMS.— —7. SEABBIGBT BAJi* 

TAMS. 8. JAPANESE BANTAMS. 

I. Dorking PowIb. 

Of distinct English breeds the Dorkings have become the most cele- 
brated. Of these the White Dorking of Surrey is the typical fowl. It 
is, as compared with the so-called dung-hill fowls, large, often weighing, 
the mature cocks fully ten pounds, the hens eight to nine pounds, and at 
a year old from six to eight pounds. They are of good size, plump, 
compact, with strong heads, full wattled, and with single serrated comb, 
short necks, short white legs, with five toes, and full plump breast, the 
plumage pure white and without spot. They are tolerably hardy, good 
layers and most excellent mothers. The illustration on following page 
is a representative of this breed. 

903 



904 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



II. Silver Gray Dorking. 
This variety is considered to be a sport of the White Dorking perpetu- 
ated by careful breeding and selection. With stock from families that 
have been carefully bred by careful selection they may be kept to the 
standard . But they vary much in color, the dark varieties often producing 
silver gray chicks. 




WHITE DORKING COCK. 



l^e Gray Dorkings are rapid growers, and if well supplied with food 
are m condition for the table at any age, often before they fairly get 
their feathers. The distinguishing colors are : breast, tail and larger taU 
feathers perfectly black; the head, neck, hackle, back, saddle, and wing 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



905 



bow a clear, pure, silvery white, and across the wings a well defined black 
bar, in striking contrast with the white outside web of the quill feathers 
and the white hackle of the neck and saddle. The neck of the hen is 




GRAY ENGLISH DOKKINGS. 



silvery white, the breast salmon-red, changnig to gray near the thighs; 
the wings silvery or slate gray, and without any tinge of red whatever. 
The tail should be dark gray, the inside nearly black. 

m. Black Dorkings. 
This sub-family are jet black in color, the neck feathers of some of 
the cocks tinged with gold, and of the hens tinged silvery. The comb 
may be either rose or single but usually double, short and sometimes 
cupped ; wattles quite small and very red near the head. The tail 
feathers shorter and broader than those of the white variety ; the legs 
black, short, and with the two under toes quite distinct and separate, 
sometimes showing a rudimentary toe. They are hardy, the hens are 
good layers, good setters and careful nurses, and the eggs are of a 
large size. 

rv. Fawn-colored Dorkings. 

These are handsome birds of high carriage, said to have been produced 
by a cross between the White Dorking and fawn-colored Turkish fowl. 



906 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Their tails are shorter than any other variety of Dorkings and the legs 
black. The cocks will weigh from eight to nine pounds and the hens 
from six to seven. They have remarkably fine flesh and lay large eggs. 
In relation to the Dorkings as a class, we have found them not well 
adapted to stand wet, cold weather. Yet with proper care they are the 
best of the distinct English breeds. 

V. Bolton Gray. 
This breed, sometimes called Creole, used to be in good repute in 
England, and were bred with such nicety that individuals could scarcely 
be distinguished apart. They are great layers, but poor setters, and 
when carefully bred are one of the best breeds for the farm yard. They 
are a medium sized, plump, short-legged fowl ; neck and body pure 
white thickly spotted with black, black bars at the extremity of the tail. 




DOMINIQUE FOWL. 



The hens are constant layers, but the eggs, although of good quality, are 
rather small, weighing about one and a half ounces each. They are 
comparatively rare in the United States. 

VI. Dominique Fowls. 
The Dominique, a distinctly American breed, and for the ordinary 
farmer, where hardiness, fecundity, good laying propensity, and excel- 



rOULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



907 



lence of flesh is concerned, is one of the very best in existence. They 
breed constant in color, markings, constitution and vigor, and are 
always well able to take care of themselves. 

The true color of the Dominique is a light ground undulated and 
penciled in the softest manner with slaty blue — almost black — forming 
bands all over the body. The hens and cocks are shaded alike ex- 
cept that the plumage of the ccok is more distinct, often with golden 
hackles, and bronzed wings. The comb of the cock may be either 
single or double, but we prefer the single comb, as most indicative 
of the true type. The iris of the eye is a bright orange, and the bill 
and legs a bright yellow or buff color. They are square built, broad 
breasted, rather short legged fowls, with little offal, and with high 
flavored and profitable flesh ; elegant in plumage, and a hardy, 
healthy, profitable and prolific race of birds. 




PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



Vn. Plymouth Rocks. 

This is a modern American breed originated by Dr. Y. C. Bennett, and 
first shown at Boston in 1840. Said to have been produced by a cross of 
a Cochin-China cock, with a hen, herself a cross between the fawn-colored 



908 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Dorking, the large Malay, and the Wild Indian fowl. Fanciers becoming 
interested in this breed, it was very considerably disseminated, but failed 
to give satisfaction on account of the want of uniformity in the chickens 
either in marking or form. Much bitter controversy has ensued, 
which shows that there were several different origins, in which the Java, 
Cochin, Gray Chattagongs, Dominique, Gray Dorking, and even the com- 
mon dunghill fowl figured. Of late years fowls have been produced 
under the name of Improved Plymouth Rocks, the modern style show- 
ing excellent and uniform breeding. A fowl that grows rapidly, fledges 
early, making flesh fast, and which in the hands of expert fanciers, com- 
bines many of the most excellent qualities to be desired, either as layers 
or as table birds. 

VIII. The Ostrich Fowls. 

This excellent breed originated in 
Bucks county, Pa., and were called 
Bucks county fowls. The cocks of 
this variety will average nine pounds. 
They are good layers, sometimes pro- 
ducing forty or fifty eggs before be- 
coming broody. The eggs are large 
and of good flavor ; the flesh white, 
firm, and of excellent quality. The 
color of the cock is a dark blue- 
black ; the ends of the feathers tipped 
BUCKS COUNTY, (PA.) FOWLS, with wMtc ; wings a yellow or gold- 

en tinge ; hackle dark, glossy blue. A double rose comb surmounts 
the head with large wattles beneath. The carriage is bold and alert. 
The hen is similarly colored, but more sober in shade, with a plump, 
thick body, a high serrate single comb, wattles large, and legs short and 

of a dark color. 

IX. Hamburg Fowls. 

The Hamburg fowls all have these characteristics ; They have bright 
double combs, firmly fixed, and ending in a long point turned up behind. 
They are of medium size, of sprightly carriage ; tails large and held 
upright with long plume feathers ; of robust constitutions, great layers, 
seldom broody ; in fact, almost never, when kept in confinement. The 
eggs are small but of excellent flavor. 

X. Black Hamburgs. 

This is probably the best variety of the family for farmers, and in fact 
one of the very best of the black fowls. Possessing the two-fold value 




FOUI.TKY, DlFJb'EKEJST VARIETIES. 



909 



of being alert, noble looking, handsome fowls , color deep black with 
metalic luster ; hardy, robust, and the hens constant layers. 




Penciled Hamburgs. * 

These are of two varieties, the Silver and Golden. In the Silvered 
sub-family, the ground color is silver-white, sometimes with a slight yel- 
low tinge, but every feather margined with the most glossy black. The 



910 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

cocks of either variety exhibit the pencilings, as do the hens, but are 
white or brown in the Silvered or Golden breeds respectively. 

There are few, if any, more striking fowls than these in the hands of 
expert and careful breeders, with their symmetrical, gay and upright 
carriage, their well-defined deaf ears, elegant combs and wattles, their 
ample, well-feathered tails, and fine-boned, taper, blue legs. 




GOLDEN PK.NCILKI) HAMBURGS. 



The hens of both varieties must have the body clearly and definitely 
penciled, and the hackles of both cocks and hens must be entirely free 
from dark marks. The engraving which we give fully illustrates the 
characteristics of the several varieties. As fancier fowls they are superb ; 
as farm fowls delicate. 

XI. Leghorns. 
This admirable breed of European fowls has become widely dissem- 
inated in the United States, being valued for their many good qualities, 
among which are beauty and constant laying propensities. They are 
bred by fanciers of all colors from white to black. 

XII. White Leghorns. 
White Leghorns are, we think, the most valuable to the farmer as they 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



ni 



The description of this variety will suffice for all. 



are the handsomest, 
excepting color. 

The Whites are in size about that of the Spanish, and like the Spanish 
the combs of the best hens lop over on one side. The plumage is white 
with hackle feathers slightly golden tinged, the rest of the feathers pure 
white. They are comparatively a hardy breed, standing extremes of 




cold and sudden changes fairly, except that their immense single combs 
are liable to freeze in Winter. The hens are persistent layers, and 
especially good Winter layers, when they are kept comfortably housed, 
and seldom incline to set. The legs and skin are yellow. The cocks 
have large single perfectly erect serrate combs, the divisions being id 



912 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



fact spiked. The wattles are full and lame with wh'f 
ear lobes, extending sometimes up on hff'ace TkT hT'" '''°^^' 
good foragers, feather early, and' at the age of sfx to Xht "' ^'^' 
— ure fowls, showing much of the stature anrg^^fVetlt::: 




^ The cut will show what would be considered prize fowls in any show 

XIII. Spanish Fowls. 
The Spanish fowls in their several varieties have long been known and 

r.^e^tir t': *':?"^' ^'^*" '^^ theirgreatlayi;gand non-setting 
propensities. The whole race, however, are rather tender as far as cold 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



913 



wet weather is concerned. But for the amateur who will give good care 
and attention, they will amply repay their cost in the production of 
plenty of large, meat}' eggs. In 
the South they are an admirable 
breed. In any locality they must 
be allowed plenty of liberty since 
they soon suffer from close con- 
finement. There are man}'^ vari- 
eties described besides the pure 
white and the pure black, as the 
red-faced black, or Minorca, the 
Ancona, Gray, or mottled breed, 
and the Blue or Andalusian. The 
cut which we give on the next 
page, of the Black Spanish and 
description of same, will suffice 
for all. 

The cock should carry himself 
erect and stately, the breast pro- 
jecting and the tail erect, and with 
sickle feathers fully developed. 
The plumage should be jet black, 
and without the least approach 
to white or any other colored 
spots, but with glossy reflec- 
tions in the sunlight. The fowl 

plump and compact ; the legs blue or dark lead color ; the comb large in 
both sexes, bright vermilion in color, deeply serrate or rathe^ notched 
like a saw ; that of the cock entirely upright and without twist w^hatever, 
and extending well back of the head. The comb of the hen sh'^uld fall 
completely over on one side ; the face must be quite white and without 
red specks, wide and deep and extending high over the eye, arched in 
shape, approaching the bottom of the comb, extending sideways to the 
ear lobes, meeting under the throat, and in texture entirely fine and 
smooth. The ears must be large and pendulous, and as white as the face. 

XIV. French Fowls. 

There are three principal breeds of French fowls that have withir the 
last ten years acquired an excellent reputation wherever known. They 
are the Houdan, Creve-Coeur — both of which are quite well disseminated 
— and the La Fleche. The first two breeds take their names from vil- 
lages of these names, and the latter from the arrondissement of La 




STANDARD WHITE I.EGHOI*«S. 



914 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOC5TOR. 



Fleche, in France, where they are most commonly raised. Besides these 
there are several other varieties of useful and ornamental breeds known 
in France as, first, the de Breda, de Breese, Court Paltas, and du Mans, 
and among the ornamental varieties the Chamois, HoUandais, liermines 
and Padoue. The Bredas have already been described. 




XV. The Houdans. 

Thase fowls are held in France in fully as high estimation as are the 
Dorkings in England. They are hardy, easily raised, fatten kindly, ky 
good sized eggs, and are of a most excellent quality of flesh. They are 
a five-toed race, and are reported to have originated between a cross of 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



915 



the Dorking and the Silver Padoue. They should be of a white and 
black color, evenly distributed, making them distinctly speckled. Red 
feathers are not admissible, but an occasional stained feather is some- 
times seen in the best fowls. They are very French-like, sprightly, 
vivacious, loving to wander, but bearing confinement well. The comb is 
double leafed, and they have whiskers and beard growing well up on their 
face, which, with the crest or top-knot, gives them a curious and yet 
striking appearance. The crest of the hen especially being thick and 
full. In shape they resemble the Dorking, but are less in size. In every 
respect they are brilliant and striking in appearance. 




UUUU>N Hh.S. 



XVI. La Fleche Fowls. 

These handsome fowls are very tall but compact ; in size equaling the 
Dorking ; yet black, firmly knit, with strong, long limbs ; the body rather 
angular, the plumage firm and dense. The head is handsome, with 
spikes of feathers behind the comb, looking like a double horn. They 
have small protuberances between the nostrils, which latter are full and 
expanded. They have large, opaque ear lobes, cravat like, very long 
58 



916 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

pendant wattles, a moderately curved beak, neck hackles long and fine, 
reflecting violet and green-black colors, as do the breast, wings and upper 
tail feathers. The legs are long, slate-blue in young fowls, and a lead- 
gray when old. The hen is colored like the cock. The cocks arrive at their 
full growth at eighteen months old ; the hen at twelve. The flesh is considered 
the finest and the most valuable for table uses of any French breed. Those 
familiar with them are pleased with no other. 




LA FLECHE FOWLS. 



XVn. The CreveCoeurs. 



This is the most strikmg of the French breeds, their black crested 
heads being curiously relieved with deep crimson, forked or antlered-like 
comb. Their aspect is bold and stately, the plumage black, shaded with 
gi'een, thick and shining. The comb must be conspicuous and full, 
wattles long and deep, breast large, full and deep, the back straight not 
drooping. The legs should be strong, firm, leaden blue, in color, and 
short, with strong claws. The hen should have a soft, thick, round 
crest, and very little comb and wattles. The color must be entirely black, 
no other color being admissible in pure bred fowls. Old birds, however, 
will sometimes show an occasional white feather in the crest; a sort of turning 
gray. 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 917 

XVIII. Large Asiatic Breeds. 

Of the numerous breeds and sub-divisions of these gigantic fowls, tbe 
Cochin-China and the Brahmas stand confessedly at the head. The 
Shanghses, and the Chittagongs have, of late, fallen into disrepute, and 




eonfessedly so, from the superiority of the Cochins and the Brahmas, 
In the Shanghse family there are various colors. Gray, buff, cinnamon, 
partridge-colored and black. Tv^enty-five years ago they Avere regarded 
with especial favor, from the fact that they were of the then largest size 
known. It must be confessed that when bred pure they are quiet, good 



918 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



sitters and nurses, little inclined to ramble, and nmong the best foster 
mothers to other chickens that can be found. 




BUFF COCHIN COCK. 

XIX. The Chittagong. 

This is a giant among fowls, the cock often standing twenty-six inches 
in height, and notwithstanding their long legs and necks, they are majestic 
looking. There are two principal breeds, the gray being the larger breed. 
In the dark red variety the breast and thighs are black. The hens yellow 
or brown ; legs in both sexes being yellow, heavily covered with black 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES, 



m 



feathers, and the carriage in all the varieties graceful, majestic, prompt 
and easy. 

XX. BuflF Cochins. 

There are several varieties, in color buff, lemon, and cinnamon, the re-^ 
suit of peculiar crosses and breeding. The buft" is the true type of the 
colored sorts, and for utility we think the best. The cock should be up- 
right and strong in his carriage ; breast broad, not full, but forming a 
nearly straight line between the crop and thighs ; back short and wide ; 
tail • only slightly raised ; legs strong and with great thighs and saddles. 




BUFF COCHIN HEN. 



The head is small, for so long a bird ; the beak yellow, stout, shorfe» 
curved, and strong at the base ; comb single, not large, and with rather 
arpall wattles, florid, thin and fine ; the ear lobes well developed, long, 
thin, fine, and entirely without white. The eye of the cock should be of 
an ochre-yellow color, and in the hen a darker hue. The hackle of the 
opck should be full, spreading over the thighs, and of a light bay color. 



920 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



and free from markings of any kind. The huckle of the hen is a clean, 
distinct buff. A slight penciling is admirable, a dark colored one not. 
The saddle of both cock and hen should be free from markings. A black 
tail in the cock is admirable, and if the principal feathers are bronzed, so 
much the better. The breast of both cock and hen should be clear buff, 




becoming lighter toward the tip, with a wavy appearance in the sun, and 
both primary and secondary quill feathers should be buff, without other 
color. The legs should be heavily featherbed, covering the outside toe, 
and partly the one behind. Vulture hocks, as shown in the Black Breda 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 921 

variety is not admissible, as they not only show mixed blood, but are 
unsightly. 

XXI. Partridge Cochins. 

These are admirable fowls. Among the heaviest of the Asiatic breeds, 
attract attention wherever shown, from their round, full, plump forms, 
elegant feathering and majestic carriage. Merely as specimen birds they are 
objects of beauty. 

The head of the Partridge Cochin is a rich orange red. The hackle 
and saddle feathers the same, but each distinctly marked down the middle 
with a black stripe. The back, shoulder-coverts and wing are self colored, 
red and darker than the hackle ; the lower wing-coverts black, with 
greenish or blue reflections forming a ' ' bar ' ' across the wing ; the pri- 
mary wing feathers black, edged brown or bay on the lower edges ; 
secondaries bay on the outer edges and black on the inner, each feather 
black on the end, forming a black edge on upper- side of the butts of the 
wings ; the breast, thighs, tail and leg feathers black and without other 
color ; the leg dusky yellow. The hen should have her hackle golden 
yellow, each feather striped black along the center, the rest of the 
plumage light brown, penciled with dark brown, the pencilings over the 
body should be dense, and the purer the brown the better. On the 
breast the pencilings should be crescent shaped. Legs dusky yellow, 
penciled brown as in the body. 

XXII. White Cochins. 

White Cochins should be white, pure white all over. This purity in 
color is essential, since a yellow or other tinge detracts from the beauty 
of the bird. The cock should have a medium sized, straight, smooth, 
freely serrate comb, large, red, deaf ears, large wattles, red eye, strong, 
yellow beak and legs, and with plenty of feathers on the feet. This 
feathering should be characteristic of all Cochins, avoiding as far as 
possible any tendency to vulture hocks. Breed also to large stock, of 
good carriage, and you will have in the progeny as pretty a sight for 
fowls as could well appear, either in the farm-yard or on the grass. You will 
also have real value, for such fowls as these will always command a market. 
Their eggs are large and of good quality, and their flesh is sweet. 

The hen should be large ; the head, beak, eye, deaf ears and wattles 
colored as in the cock. Avoid especially a grayish eye. It is supposed 
to show a tendency to blindness and a generally weak constitution. The 
body must be broad, the tail small, almost covered with the soft feathers 
about it, and with well feathered rumps and plenty of fluff. 



922 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

XXIII. Brahma Fowls. 



These majestic fowls, said to have been originally brought from the 
banks of the Brahma-pootra river, which waters the fertile territory of 




WHITE COCHIN FOWLS. 



Assam, are divided into two classes, the light and dark, each having their 
special admirers, and either good enough for any farm yard. As a rule 
however, the dark are more highly esteemed, and the fowls sell for 
higher prices than the light. 

The head of the dark Brahma cock should have a pea comb, that is, 
three combs running parallel to each other, and with the length of the 
head, the middle one the highest ; the beak strong and curved, ear lobes 
red, and falling below the wattles, which should be full, and like the ear 
lobes, deep red ; the neck short, well curved, with the hackle ful. silver 
white, striped with black, and flowing over the back, and sides of the 
breast ; the back strong, very short, wide, flat, the feathers almost white, 
the saddle feathers long and white, striped with black ; the tail small, 
soft, upright, the feathers on the rise from the saddle to the tail, and the 



I'OULTKY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



923 



side' feathers of the tail a pure lustrous black ; the breast full, broad, 
rather prominent, the feathers pure black tipped with white, and the 
feathers at the head white ; the saddle feathers and thigh fluffs ample ; 
the wings email, with a good black bar across them ; the wings well 
tucked under the saddle feathers and thigh fluffs ; the fluff on the^'hinder 




part of the thighs black or dark gray, the feathers on the lower part of 
the thighs soft and nearly black ; legs short, yellow and profusely cov- 
ered with feathers on the outside. 

The marking of the hen is almost identical with that of the cock, 
except that it is more uniform all over except the head and tail, each 



924 



LLLUSTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



feather closely penciled, with dark steel gray on a dingy white ground, 
and extending nearly up to the throat, on the breast. In carriage, the 
hen is not so upright in carriage as the cock, and the legs are very considerably 
shorter. 

XXIV. Light Brahmas. 

Pure bred fowls are mostly white in color, on the outside, but if the 
feathers are parted, the under plumage is bluish-gray. This distinction 
is strongly marked as between the Light Brahmas and White Cochins, 
which latter are white to the roots. The head is of the same general 
shape as in the dark variety, and with pea combs ; the ear lobes and wat- 
tles are pure red ; the neck hackles are distinctly marked wdth a black 
stripe down to the center of each feather, on a white ground ; the quill 
feathers of the wings are black, but when folded the wings should show 
only white ; the tail should be black, tolerably upright, but opening out 
like a fan, and the within tail coverts reflecting a peculiar green hue in 
the sunlight : the legs are yellow and well covered with white feathers, 
sometimes slightly mottled with black. The hen is colored like the cock, 
except that the plume may be somewhat darker, and the general appear- 
ance more sober in color. The tail should be black and smaller than that 
of the cock. 

XXV. Frizzled Fowls. 

One of the most curious of the Oriental breeds, and occasionally seen 
in the yards of amateurs and fanciers, are the frizzled fowls originally 
brought from Java. Linnaeus named them Gallus pennis revolutiSj or 
fowls with feathers rolled back. The color should be white, though they 
are also bred black and brown. They are certainly curious and interest- 
ing as showing freaks in breeding. So far as value, in comparison with 
other breeds is concerned, it is nil. 

XXVI. Silkies. 

Far more ornamental in appearance, and really of some value, are 
what are known as Silkies. The best specimens "are pure white, and 
have this peculiarity, the webs of the feathers lack cohesion and are fila- 
mentous, hence giving the silky appearance to the plumage. 

They are sometimes called negro fowls, from the fact that the skin is 
of a dark violet color, almost black, and the comb and wattles often dark 
purple, low and flat and covered Avith small warts. The bones are also 
covered with a dark membrane, which altogether makes this breed the 
most singular and interesting of the gallinaceous tribe. 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 

XXVn. Breda or Guelder Fowls. 



926 



The Breda or Guelder fowl is peculiar in some repects, and shows 
that there is an infusion of Asiatic blood, although they are Polish in 
shape and closely rehited to this breed. They are of various colors, but 




PAIR OF SILKY FOWLS. 



the only true families that are bred in the United States are the Cuckoo 
or Dominique marked, called Gu elders, and those pure black, denom- 
inated Breda, though we believe the true Breda is applied to all the 
Guelders, not Cuckoo marked. They have a crest, only just perceptible, 
and of the same color as the body. 

Whatever the color, they are lightly feathered on the legs, which are 
slaty-blue, and the thighs are vulture hocked. They have no comb, but 
a depression where the comb should be ; the nostrils are cavernous, and 
particularly conspicuous. The cut given will show their general appear- 
ance, and the likeness of a Breda head given on a previous page will 
show the chief peculiarity of the head. In size they are medium chicks, 
ear lobes and wattles red and peculiar in shape, being extremely pendu- 
lous in the cock. The plumage is close and compact like that of game 
fowls, with large and flowing tails. The eggs are large, smooth and of 
good flavor, and the chickens are hardy and feather quickly. 



.926 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

XXVIII. Game Fowls. 



. The several varieties of game fowls are the most elegant and noble of 
the gallinaceous tribe. The cocks are watchful, courageous, always ready 
to attack an enemy whatever it may be, and fighting to the death. And 
of most elegant carriage and coloring. The hens are good mothers, lay 




the finest meated eggs of any breed, are hardy, and excellent foragers. 
There is hardly a breed of ''dung-hill" fowls, but what owe their good 
qualities to the infusion of this prepotent blood. This general descrip- 
tion witl suffice for all the varieties, which are innumerable, and belong 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES 



927 



to every country, England, Ireland, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, Malay and 
China being the most celebrated for their strains of blood > In all these 
varieties of games the cocks are noted for the brilliancy of their markings 
and the hens for their soberness of color. 




niii! 



The Brown-breasted Reds. 



This variety is considered as one of the best of the games, an illustra- 
tion of a group of which we give. In this breed the breast of the cock 



928 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



should be red-brown, shoulder sometmies orange-red. The comb and 
face must be dark purple, the beak dark ; wing butts dark red or brown, 
with dark talons ; hackle with dark stripes ; thighs like the breast ; tail 
a dark greenish black ; the wing crossed with a glossy, green-hued bar. 
The plumage of the hen should be very dark brown penciled with light 
brown ; neck hackle dark, golden, copper-red, thickly striped with dark 
feathers ; comb and face much darker than that of the cock. When the 
tail feathers are spurred and show a slight curve, it is considered indica- 
tive of strong blood. 




KARL DERBY GAME. 



Earl Derby Game. 



This magnificent strain which has been bred in great purity in England 
for over a century, are Daw-eyed, that is the eye is gray like that of the 
Jackdaw. They have a round, well knit body, on long, strong legs, with 
white feet and claws ; the head is long, the bill lance-shaped and elegant ; 
the face bright red, with small comb and wattles red; back intense 
brown-red ; lesser wing coverts maroon colored ; greater wing coverts 
marked at the extremity with steel-blue forming a bar across the wings ; 
primary wing feathers bay ; tail irridescent black ; hackle well feathered, 
touching the shoulders ; wings large and well quilled ; back short : breast 
round and black ; tail long and sickled, being well tufted at the root — 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



929 



thick, short and stiff. The hen is thus succinctly and perfectly described 
by Beeton in his Enghsh work on poultry: "Head line and tapering; 
face, wattles and comb bright red ; extremities of upper mandible and 
the greater portion of the lower one white, but dusky at its base and 
around its nostrils ; chestnut-brown around the eyes, continued beneath 
the throat ; shaft of neck hackles light buff ; web pale brown edged 
with black ; breast shaded with roan and fawn color ; belly and vent 
of an ash tint ; primary wing feathers and tail black, the latter carried 
vertically and widely expanded ; legs, feet and nails perfectly white.** 
The carriage of both cock and hen of this breed is upright and dignified. 
The pugnacious disposition of the cock equals that of any other game 
bird ; and its endurance cannot be surpassed. Years ago they were 
numbered among the best breed of birds for the cock-pit ; and for the 
table they are not surpassed by the sweet and nutritious flesh of the 
Dorking fowl. , 




DUCK-WING GAME FOWLS. 



Duck-winged Game Fowls. 

There are several varieties, including the Duck- winged game bantams. 
To our mind the best are the silver-gray, a pure-blooded, hardy and 
high couraged bird. The cock must be silver-gray in color ; the head, 
comb, face, wattles and bill of the true game type ; the first four of them 
bright red, the bill light colored ; eyes red, skin white, and the legs 
white : the hackle is striped black underneath, but clean above ; the 
breast a clean, nearly silver-gray; the back a bright silver-gray; the 



930 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



lower part of the wings creamy white, crossed above with a bar steel-blue 
in color. 

In the hen, the plumage should be a silvery bluish-gray, frosted with 
white ; neck hackle silvery-white, striped with black, and the breast a 




pale fawn color, more subdued than in the cock. The other character- 
istics, as to lace eyes and feet, etc.. should be identical with that of the 
male bird. 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



931 



Wliite Georgia Game. 

This variety, originally bred in Europe, but brought into Georgia many 
years ago, and since carefully bred in various parts of the South, are 
game in the pit, and most excellent farm fowls, being hardy, courageous, 
and the flesh most excellent in quality. For beauty of plumage, elegant 
shape and lofty carriage, they have few if any superiors. 

In the color they should be pure white all over, with no shade whatever 
on neck, breast, hock or tail. The legs may be white or yellow. We 
prefer the yellow, since it is an indication of a stronger constitution. 
The beak should harmonize with the legs, and the comb, ear lobes and 
wattles must be of the deepest vermilion color. Such a breed on the 
lawn makes one of the prettiest sights we have ever seen, and in quality 
of the flesh they have no superiors. 

Game Bantams. 
These are small varieties of the more common large breeds. Alert, 
courageous little fellows, some of them not larger than good sized 
pigeons, but fully capable of driving any ordinary barn-yard fowl, how- 
ever large it may be. The more prominent of these are the Black 
Breasted red game bantams. As pets they are most attractive and may 
be kept with any of the large breeds without danger of intermixing as to 
the hen bantams. 

Other Bantams. 
The most highly prized of the fancy bantams are the golden and silver 
spangled Sebright bantams. There are also bantams of the white and 
black races of smooth-legged fowls, as there also are of the Asiatics. 

Sebright Bantams. 
There are two varieties of these, the golden 
penciled and the silver penciled, identical in shape 
and markings except the color. Both varieties 
are remarkably beautiful ; pert, livelj^ vigorous, 
and when small and well bred, among the nicest 
pets of the farm-yard. The plumage of the Silver 
bantam is of a silver-white color with a jet black 
margin. The Golden variety is identical except 
that the ground color of the plumage is golden. 
The legs are smooth, the heads are clean, the comb 
double and pointed at the back, and the tail straight 
and without the long sickle feathers. Whether 
they be golden or silver spangled, the value of the 
birds consists in the delicacy and pencilings of the markings. 
59 




SEBRIGHT BANTAM. 



The cockg 



932 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

should not weigh over twenty ounces at most ; the hen not more than 

sixteen. Hens have been shown weighing not more than twelve ounces. 

A peculiarity of this variety is, that occasionally an old or a barren 




BARREN, FULL FEATHERED. 

female will assume the plumage of the cock. When we remember that 
the males of this breed are what are called hen-tailed, the remarkable re- 
version, as shown in the cut, of a hen, will be interesting to the scientist 
and curious to all. 

Japanese Bantams. 

Among the most curious of the bantam tribe are the Japanese bantams. 
In this rare breed, the body must be as pure white as possible, the tail 
black, the sickles very long, upright, little curved, but carried over the 
back as shown in the cut. The shafts of the sickle feathers white ; the 
comb large, upright, not too strongly serrated ; wattles long and red ; 
legs very short and yellow. The boay of the wings should be white, 
with black flight feathers. The hen should be fan tailed, and the comb 
crinkled. They are quiet, easily domesticated. The hens are good lay- 
ers and good nurses. The chickens are tender, and for this reason should 
not be hatched before the weather is warm. In fact as small size in ban- 



POULTRY, DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



933 



tarns is an essential point, the best chickens are fall-hatched and kept 
through the Winter with only feed sufficient to continue them growing 
fairly and to keep them in good health. 





JAPAKSSlc BAKTAM COC&. 



JAFANSSS BANTAM PUU.BT. 



CHAPTER in. 



BBEEDIN6. 



THE PLUMAGE. IDEAL SHAPE. BREEDING TO TYPE. -DISPARITY IN SEXES. 

MATING. BREEDING GRADES. 



In the breeding of poultry it is absolutely necessary that the breeder 
have a good and clear idea of the points of fowls. For this reason we 
give a series of illustrations showing the entire fowl, and also others 
accurately figured and explained, so no reader can err. It is absolutely 
necessary to a correct understanding of any business or profession that 
a correct knowledge of the technicalities connected therewith be had. 
The poultry breeder must not ojily understand how to feed and rear 
chickens but he must have a nice discrimination as to plumage, the chief 
characteristics of the several breeds of fowls, and their peculiarities of 
constitutional vigor, style, carriage, etc., but he must also understand 
something of the anatomy of the fowl, their points, and also those relating 
to outward parts, and the technical terms used in describing the several 
parts. In addition to what follows we have prepared a pretty complete 
glossary which will be found at the end of the chapters, so that any person 
may easily inform himself as to the several terms used by the fanciers 
and breeders. The technical terms used by poultry fanciers, in describe 
ing the points of a fowl, are not always understood by the uninitiated. 
934 



POULTRY, BREEDING. 



935 



For the benefit of such we give an illustration, with lettered referencesj 
which will supply the necessary information on the subject 




POINTS OF POULTET. 



Expfanatlon— ^— Neck hackle. £— Saddle hackle. C— Tail. D— Breast. 
^— Upper Wing coverts. ^— Lower Wing coverts. G^— Primary quills. U— 
Thighs. /—Legs. iT— Comb, i/— Wattles. JJ/— Ear lobe. 




POINTS OF THK HXAD OF COCK. 



Explanation.— 1— The comb, which surmounts the skull. 2— The wattles, 
which hang underneath and on each side of the beak. 3— Th^ ear wattles, 



936 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



which hang under the cheek. 4 — The tufts of little feathers, which cover and 
protect the auditory organ. 6 — The cheeks, which commence at the beginning 
near the nostrils, cover all the face and re-unite behind the head by a continua- 
tion of the flesh of the same nature, but covered with feathers. 6 — The nostrils, 
which are at the beginning of the beak. 7 — The beak, of which the two parts, 
the upper and lower mandible, are horny. 

The head of the cock, as of the hen, is composed of two principal 
parts ; 1st, the skull is a firm union of bones, which include the upper 
part, or mandible, of the beak ; 2nd, the lower part or mandible of the 
beak, being the lower jaw-bone, formed by a single piece. In the skull 
are the sockets or cavities which contain the eye ; the nostrils are in front 
of the eye ; the auditory organ, or ear, is behind the eye. The head, ex- 
cepting the beak, is entirely covered by a fleshy covering, round which 
may be seen several appendages or caruncles, which are the crest, the two 
ear-lobes, and the two ear-wattles. This covering forms the cheeks, the 
color, the size ; the form of each of these parts is varied according to the 
variety, and often serves to characterize each. A tuft of short feathers 
called "the tuft" covers the auditory organ. 








ANALYSIS OF WING PLUMAQB (See foUowing Page) . 



The comb is straight or drooping ; it is single when it is composed 
of only one piece, double when there are two alike united or near together, 
it is triple when it is formed of two alike and one in the middle ; it is 
frizzled when full of granulations more or less deep, and erect excrescences, 
it is a crown when it is circular, hollow, and indented ; it is goblet shaped 



POULTRY, BREEDING. 



937 



when hollow, vascular, and not indented. There are other forms but 
the J are composed of parts or unions of those particularized. 

The Plumage. 

With the hen there may be three kinds of feathers distinguished : 1. 
The large feathers on the wings for flying, and on the rump to form the 
tail ; 2. the middle-sized feathers which cover the large feathers, and are 




POINTS OF THE FOWL. 



also found on the wing and rump ; 3. the neck, the back, the sides, the 
throat, the shoulders, and a part of the wings. They are always in layers 
compactly covering those beneath them like tiles. We shall designate 
them by the name of the places they occupy, and refer to the engravings 
to render them easy to recognize : 

Explanation— ^— The upper feathers of the head are very small in those fowls not 
tufted. They surround the skuU. 



938 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



B — The underneath feathers of the head are almost like bristles. Thoy cover the cheeks 
in the space which separates on the wattles. 

C— The upper feathers of those at the back of the neck are short, and lengthening lower 
down, forming what is called the hackle. They become longer between the shoulders 
when they cover the beginning of those on the back and the commencement of the wings. 

D — The feathers of the back, forming a layer about 10. These leathers are of the same 
nature as those of the neck, but a little larger, and form the saddle. 

i?— The feathers of the breast cover the entJre length of the two breast muscles, extend- 
ing beyond the breast-bone at each side and uniting at its end. The whole forms what is 
termed the breast. These feathers, with the feathers of the loins, overlap those of 
the sides. 




-T 



SHOWING POINTS. 



Q — The feathers on the sides cover the loins, taking in the back as far as the rnmp, 
which they go beyond and cover the lower part of the feathers of the tail. They also cover 
the commencement of the feathers of the flanks, thighs and abdomen. 

H— The feathers of the flanks are light and flufl\'. They cover the upper part of the 
thigh feathers and slip under those of the breast. 

/—The feathers of the abdomen cover and envelope all this part from the end of the 
breast to the rump. These feathers are generally fluffy, of a silky nature and spread out 
in a tuft. 

J— The outside feathers of the thigh cover those of the abdomen and leg. 



POULTRY, BREEDING. 939 

L—The outside and inside feathers of the leg stop at the heel, or in some varieties they 
proceed lower and form what are called ruffles or vultured hocks. 

Af— The feathers of the feet or sole are long, short, or entirely absent, in the diflferent 
varieties. These feathers are along the shank in either one or several rows. They are 
always on the outside part. 

iV— The feathers of the toes appear on the outsides. 

0— The middle tail feathers envelope the rump and cover the bases of the large feathers 
of the tail. 

P— The larger tail feathers are in a regular line of seven on each side of the rump, and 
form the tail. 

Q— The outside feathers of the shoulders cover a part of the other feathers of the wing. 
They form the shoulder. 

li — The inside feathers of the shoulders are small, thin, and slender. 

S — The larger feathers of the pinion form, where the wing is opened,a large, arched sur- 
face, and are of different sizes. These feathers grow out of the under side of the pinion. 

r— The small outside feathers of the pinion are of different sizes. They come on all the 
outside surfaces from the shoulder to the pinion. They begin quite small on the outside 
edge, and finish a medium size on the inside edge. 

(7— The inside feathers of the pinion are close, middle-sized, and small, covering the 
bases of the large feathers of the pinion. 

F— The large flight feathers, or feathers of the hand, are large and strong, and are of 
most use to the bird in locomotion. They begin at the under edge of that which is called 
the top of the wing. 

jf— The outside flight-feathers cover the large ones ; they are stiff and well flattened on 
the others. 

F— The inside flight- feathers are, some small and others medium-sized; cover the bases 
of the flight-feathers. 

Z— An appendix called the pommel of the wing, which represents the fingered part. It 
is at the joint of the pinion and has some middle-sized feathers of the same description as 
the large pinion feathers, and have some small ones to cover them. These feathers assist 
in the flight. 

When the whole wing is folded, almost all the feathers are hidden by 
the larger feathers of the pinion and middle external feathers. Classifi- 
cation of the feathers of the cock are the same as those of the hen, but 
the forms of some of them are different. 

Ideal Shape. 

The cut on next page will serve to show the contour of the fowl, the 
Dorking being the one selected on account of its compact body ; and the 
nearer the fowl comes to the ideal the more profitable it will be. Neverthe- 
less it must be remembered that each breed has its peculiar characteristics 
and that some one point must often be sacrificed in favor of another. 

Breeding to Type. 

In the breeding of poultry, as well as farm animals, there should be 
no violent crosses made. In fact, none but the thoroughly scientific 
breeder, who has given his life study to the task, should undertake 



940 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

crossing with a view to forming a new breed. It will not pay. The 
general breeder should get the best representatives of the breed he pro- 




BREEDING TO TYPE. 



poses to use and confine himself to it. No more than one breed should 
be allowed on the farm. If so it will end in intermixing and confusion. 
No more should be attempted than by careful breeding and selection to 
j)erpetuate the strain in its purity, and if possible to improve it. A 
careful study of the foregoing will render this possible, and thus any 
farmer may breed a given strain equal to the best. 

The cock should be large, broad breasted, strong winged, muscular, 
easy on his legs, and of strong points in his plumage ; the hen from good 
laying stock or a good mother as the case may be. 

Disparity in Sexes. 

As to the number of hens to the cock it will vary with the breeds. With 
Games, Dorkings, Houdans and Creve Cceurs they may be eight or ten 
to one ; .Spanish, Cochins and Brahmas, ten or twelve to one ; Hamburgs 
twelve or fourteen to one. If the flock is large enough so two or more 
cocks are kept all but one had better be confined, giving them in succes- 
sion to the flock, and it is better in large flocks to have a reserve to use 
when necessary. By this plan much fighting over and unnecessary worry 
of the hens will be saved. If too many males are allowed to run there 
will be a loss in eggs, and if too few they will be deficient in fertility, 
this being one of the greatest drawbacks to this system. So, as between 
the two, always buy eggs for setting from breeders who give their flocks 



POULTRY, BREEDING. 941 

a good range, and are careful that the hens have neither too few nor too 
many males. 

Mating. 

Always mate a short, compact, deep-bodied male, with long-backed 
hens, but not the reverse, and as a rule, for the best results the hen 
should be over one year old when she sets. From that to four years she 
will do the best. Do not be afraid of breeding in-and-in. Unless carried 
too far it will result in better success than out crosses. So in breeding 
to color let all self colors be as solid as possible, and in parti-colored 
breeds study their characteristics, and breed as near to a feather as 
possible. Avoid vulture hocks in all poultry, and especially so in the 
Asiatic breeds- In breeding Brahmas and colored Cochins have plenty 
of color in the males, as the tendency is to get lighter. Yet in this dis- 
crimination must be used. If the saddle is very heavily striped, or the 
neck hackle very dark, the chicks will be apt to run to spots. Yet as a 
rule heavily-penciled males must be used to get heavily-penciled cock 
chickens. So very dark hackled cocks and hens with the hackles lightly 
penciled will produce chickens with delicately penciled hackles. 

Breeding Grades. 

If you cannot get fowls pure get a well bred cock and keep with a few 
of your select hens. Breed him again to his chicks, so long as he lasts ; 
thus by the exercise of judgment you may have very superior poultry in 
a short time. A better way, however, is to get a setting of pure eggs 
and commence right at once. They cost comparatively little, are easily 
sent by express, and will soon repay their cost. 



CHAPTEK IV. 



MANAGEMENT OP FOWLS. 



GOING INTO BUSINESS. VILLAGE YARDS. THE POULTRY HOUSE. PROPER 

FOOD FOR FOWLS. BEST BREEDS FOR MARKET. EGG PRODUCERS. 

HOW TO FATTEN. HOW TO KILL AND DRESS FOWLS. PACKING FOR 

MARKET. 



Going Into Business. 



Before going into the business of raising poultry be sure and have com- 
fortable quarters for the fowls. These need not be expensive structures, 
poles and hay will make a warm, comfortable roosting and nesting place, 
until something better can be provided. Be sure that plenty of dry dust 
for bathing is supplied at all times. It is the great remedy against lice, 
to which fowls are especially liable. This with plenty of sun, plenty of 
pure water, and liberal feeding, will insure success both in eggs and 
chickens. Do not over crowd the house. See that everything is kept 
scrupulously neat and clean. If you build a permanent house, know that 
there is to be plenty of ventilation ; all birds require a large amount of 
fresh air. Plenty of heat, plenty of food and water, and plenty of fresh 
air are what give plenty of fresh eggs in Winter, when they are scarce 
and high. In the Summer let the fowls range over the farm as much as 
they will, they will thus be paying for their keep in destroying insects, 
and keeping themselves healthy ; we are writing for farmers, and not 
fanciers. In villages the case will be different ; there, fowls must be 
kept shut up a great part of the time. 
942 



POULTRY, MANAGEMENT. 943 

Here, some tact must be used. If the fowls must be kept up during 
the day, let them out for a run, an hour before sundown, in the street 
or alley; they will come back all right at feeding time. What you lack 
in range, you must make up in care and attention to the wants of the 
fowls, and in the economy of the hen house, and the little range of grass 
which they may have. Green food of some kind must be given. Cabbage, 
lettuce or onion tops, chopped, are all good. Animal food must also be 
provided ; any rough meat will do if chopped. One of the mistakes often 
made is feeding too much at a time. Give them their food so they may 
take it at will, if it can be kept clean, or throw down food to them liber- 
ally, so long as they eat eagerly, and, make them eat pretty clean. 

The Poultry House. 
The poultry house should face the South on one of its broad sides, and 
the more glass you have in this, the better. One portion should be half 
dark for the nests, and, for setting hens, this should be large enough so 
a dust bath may be supplied also. The roosting place may be in one end, 
and should not be more than two feet from the floor, especially if the 
breed be heavy. The perches should be all on a level, and pretty large. 
A two by four scantling nicely rounded and set on edge, is not too large 
for the heavy birds. Keep everything about the house scrupulously 
clean. Whitewash at least once a month with lime and if lice make their 
appearance, fumigate the house, and sprinkle Scotch snuff among the 
feathers of the fowls. Follow this up until the lice are exterminated. 

Proper Food for Fowls. 
Never give fowls sloppy food. When mixed feed is given, it should 
be made as stiff as possible. Never feed in a trough, it cannot be kept 
clean. Have the dough so stiff that, as it falls from the hand it will 
break, and so, feed on clean ground. Indian meal and small potatoes 
cooked together and fed pretty hot in Winter, with a little chopped onion 
intermixed, makes a good food. Have broken bones, lime rubbish and 
gravel always where fowls can get it, and in Winter a sheep's pluck hung 
where the hens can just reach it, by jumping up to pick it piecemeal, will 
keep the fowls in good laying trim. Chandler's cake is good, if other 
meat cannot be had. This may be broken fine and mixed with one of 
their daily feeds. Be careful, however, that you do not overfeed with 
meat. If so, it will show in loss of feathers and general ill health. 

Best Breeds for Market. 
We do not believe there are any better market fowls, all things con- 
sidered, than the Brahmas and Cochins. The Dorkings are undoubtedly 
the most superior table fowls j they are also tender and harder to rear. 



944 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

As a cross for early plump table breeds, a Dorking cock crossed on 
Brahma or Cochin hens will give fast growing, plump chickens of early 
maturity. In this, however, fancy has much to do. 

The Asiatics are not great layers, but by using judgment, fully as 
many eggs can be got from either Brahmas or Cochins in Winter as from 
any other breed, and Winter eggs are what bring money. Give them 
warm and roomy quarters, with plenty of range for exercise, with liberal 
feeding, including green vegetables, and they will bring you money 
in eggs. 

Egg Producers. 

The Poland, the Leghorn and the Houdan are inveterate layers, and 
their eggs are good. The Hambi^rgs are good layers, but like the black 
Spanish, tender, and more fit for the amateur than the practical man. 
For eggs, there is little doubt that the Polands should carry the palm. 
For young chickens for market, Brahmas and Cochins, and for home 
table use, the Dorkings are best. Why, then, asks the reader, have you 
described so many fowls? The answer is, so that the table being well 
filled, you may take your choice of breeds. 

How to Fatten. 

When ready to fatten, poultry should be always confined in a small 
space ; the smaller the better. Two weeks should make them fat. If 
kept after they are fat, or when they cease to increase, they again imme- 
diately lose flesh. The best food in the West is corn-meal, boiled into a 
very thick mush, and then made as thick as possible, while scalding hot, 
by mixing in all the meal that can be worked. The fowls may be kept 
in well- ventilated coops, feeding them three times a day with the feed 
warm, and allowing them plenty of water and gravel all the time, except 
for the last week, when the gravel may be omitted. The coops must of 
course be kept clean, and should be small enough so the fowls cannot 
turn around ; should be littered with clean straw, and never allowed to 
get foul. If, instead of water, their drink is skimmed milk, they will 
become extra fat. 

How to Kill and Dress Fowls. 

Never kill your fowls until they have fasted twenty-four hours. No 
man ever made any money by selling his fowls with their crops stuffed to 
make them weigh. The petty fraud is too apparent. To kill and dress, 
tie their legs together, hang the fowl up, open the beak and pass a sharp 
pointed, narrow bladed knife into the mouth and up into the roof, divid- 
ino- the membrane. Death will be instant. Immediately cut the throat 
by dividing the arteries of the neck and the bird will bleed thoroughly. 



POULTRY, MANAGEMENT. 945 

We never scald ; the nicest way is to pick the fowl dry and while yet 
warm. A little care will prevent tearing the flesh, and the bird will 
bring enough extra in the market to make it pay. Most persons, how- 
ever, will prefer to scald, and for home consumption, or the village 
market this will do. 

Have the water just scalding hot — not boiling — 190 degrees is just 
right. Immerse the fowl, holding it by the legs, taking it out and in, 
until the feathers slip easily. Persons become very expert at this, the 
feathers coming away by brushing them with the hand, apparently. At 
all events, they must be picked clean. Hang turkeys and chickens by 
the feet, and ducks and geese by the head, to cool. It should be unnec- 
essary to say that under no circumstances whatever, should ducks and 
geese be scalded; they must invariably be. picked dry. Take off the 
heads of chickens as soon as picked, tie the skin neatly over the stump, 
draw out the insides carefully, and hang up to cool. Never sell fowls 
undrawn. They will bring enough more drawn and nicely packed, with 
the heart, gizzard and liver placed inside each fowl, to pay for the 
trouble. Let them get thoroughly cool — as cold as possible — but never, 
under any circumstances, frozen. There is always money in properly 
prepared poultry ; the money is lost in half fitting them for market, the 
fowls often being forwarded in a most disgusting state. There is money 
in the production of eggs ; there is money in raising poultry for the 
market. The money is lost in improper packing and in a foolish attempt 
occasionally made to make the buyer pay for a crop full of musty corn, 
at the price of first-class meat. It is that class of men, however, who 
are too smart ever to make money at anything. 

Packing for Market. 
The poultry, having been killed as directed, carefully picked, the 
heads cut off, and the skin drawn over the stump and neatly tied — or if 
preferred, leave the head on, the fowl will not bring less for it — and the 
birds chilled down to as near the freezing point as possible, provide clean 
boxes and place a layer of clean hay or straw quite free from dust, in the 
bottom. Pick, up a foAvl, bend the head under and to one side of the 
breast bone, and lay it down flat on its breast, back up, the legs extend- 
ing straight out behind. The first fowl to be laid in the left hand corner. 
So placed, lay a row across the box to the right, and pack close row by 
row, until only one row is left, then reverse the heads, laying them next 
the other end of the box, the feet under the previous row of heads. If 
there is a space left between the two last rows, put in what birds will fit 
sideways. If not, pack in clean long straw, and also pack in straw at the 
sides and between the birds, so they cannot move. Pack straw enough 



946 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

over one layer of fowls, so that the others cannot touch, and so proceed 
until the box is full. Fill the box full. There must never be any shak- 
ing, or else the birds will become bruised, and loss will ensue. Many 
packers of extra poultry place paper over and under each layer before 
lillino- in the straw. There is no doubt but that it pays. Nail the box 
' tight ; mark the initials of the packer, the number of fowls and variety, 
and mark plainly the full name of the person or firm to whom it is con- 
signed, with street and number on the box. Thus the receiver will know 
at a o-lance what the box contains, and does not have to unpack to find 
out. These directions, if carefully carried out, might save a person 
many times the cost of this book, every year. 




FOUNTAIN FOR POULTRTo 



Turkeys, Other Fo^vls, Breeds and Management 



CHAPTER V. 



THE HOME OF THE TURKEY. 



VARIETIES OP THE DOMESTIC TURKEY. 1. THE COMMON TURKET. II. ENG- 
LISH TURKEY. III. THE HONDURAS TURKEY. IV. BRONZED-BLACK TUR- 
KEY. V. GUINEA FOWL. VI. THE PEACOCK. 



Although it is only about three hundred years since the turkey — from 
any well authenticated accounts — was brought under domestication, we 
already see them broken up into several distinct breeds, although there 
are but two wild varieties, the brown turkey of North America, and the 
Honduras turkey of Central America ; a cut of the latter being shown 
on following page, and of the former the introduction to poultry in 
general, illustrate these varieties. 

There is, however, one fact peculiar to the turkey as with pheasants. 
It still retains and persistently holds many of its wild traits. It is shy, 
intractable, does not care for home, and like the pea fowl and guinea 
fowl, is much inclined to wander. When full grown, and indeed after 
becoming full fledged, they are the hardiest of domestic fowls ; in fact, 
as hardy as any of our Winter species of wild breeds ; yet when young, 
they are the most delicate, tender and easily chilled. For this reason 
they should never be hatched until the weather, both nights and days, is 
warm ; and for the reason that the hen turkey is so careless of her 
60 947 



948 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



young, and so poor a provider, we have always raised them under care- 
ful hens, giving a large hen seven eggs and aiming to have two broods 
come off at once, giving both broods to one nurse. 

The eggs require from thirty to thir- 
ty-two days to hatch, and for the 
first four weeks the young chicks 
should be carefully watched. They 
will neither stand the hot sun, heavy 
rains, nor much dew, and they must 
be kept warm. Hard boiled eggs 
rubbed up with oatmeal or cornmeal 
is a good food for the first two weeks. 
After which, light wheat and cracked 
corn may form the staple. About 
the time they acquire the red head, 
which is at about six weeks of age, 
which next to the third day is the 
most critical period of their life, they 
~^ should have nutritious food, and, if a 
little bruised hemp seed is added, so 
much the better. In feeding give but 
a little at a time and often, and that 
out of the reach of the hen or other 
fowls. Young onion tops, chopped very fine and well mixed with the 
food is excellent. Curds of sour milk are eagerly eaten, but should not 
be given as a constant food. Pure cold water must always be at hand 
as a drink, but occasionally, say once a day, skim milk may be given. 
Where cornmeal is the basis of the food, it should always be cooked into 
a hard mush before being fed. 

Varieties of the Domestic Turkey. 
These are the bronze, the English (so-called) turkey, the white, the 
buff, and the crested turkey. The latter is extremely rare, having been 
supposed to have originated in Europe, in the early part of the last cen- 
tury, then entirely lost, and again said to have been recovered, curiously 
enough, from Africa. 

Temminck, in a work relating to pigeons and fowls, printed in Amster- 
dam in 1813, mentions them as follows : The crested turkey is only a 
variety or sport of nature in this species, differing only in the possession 
of a feathered crest, which is sometimes white, sometimes black. These 
crested turkeys are very rare. Mademoiselle Backer, in her magnificent 
menagerie near the Hague, had a breed of crested turkeys of a beautiful 
Isabelle yellow, inclining to chestnut ; all had full crests of pure white. 




WILD TURKEY. 



POULTRY, TURKEYS. 



949 



Lieutenant Byam described crested wild turkeys as having been seen 
by him m Mexico, but it is supposed he must have mistaken curassows 
for wild turkeys, since no others have been able to find them, and the 
curassow is thoroughly domesticated there. The white and buff turkeys 
are simply varieties in color from the common forms, which have in some 
mstances been perpetuated by careful breeding and selection. So also 
there are copper-colored, fawn-colored, party-colored, and also o-ray 
turkeys. These can hardly be considered worthy of breedino- excepl in 
an amateur way for amusement. * 




COMMON TURKEYS. 

I. The Common Turkey. 
These are pure white and black mixed, with the peculiar wattle a-d 
head of the wild turkey. They are of medium size, less given to wan- 
dering than some of the breeds, and will weigh dressed, if fat, at seven 
or eight months old, from ten to twelve pounds, and at full maturity 
sixteen pounds. ^ 

n. English Turkey. 
This is simply a modification of our common turkey, which by careful 
breeding has been made uniform and of an increased size. Of these the 
Norfolk turkey is black, with a few white spots on the wings. The breed 
most valued in Cambridgeshire is a bronze-gray, and longer legged than 
the Norfolk variety. 



950 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



III. The Honduras Turkey. 
The Honduras or Ocellated turkey is one of the most elegant of the 
tribe, and is found all over Central America. It breeds freely with our 
domestic variety and the progeny is quite fertile. The ground color of 
the plumage is a beautiful bronzed-green, lianded with gold-bronze and 
shiny black, and lower down the back with deep blue and red. Upon 




5-^-^ 



OCELATKD TURKEY HEN. 



the tail these bands are so well defined and sharp, that they become 
ocellated or eyed, and hence the name. Unfortunately their southern 
origin makes them too tender for the North, but in the South there 
Bho'uld be little difficulty in breeding them. The Mexican turkey differs 



POULTRY, TURKEYS 



951 



but little from the foregoing. There is more white in the tail feathers 
and tail coverts, and like the Honduras turkey, it breeds freely with our 
wild or doaiestic turkey. 




Iv^. Bronzed-black Turkey. 

This is the largest as it is the best of the domestic turkeys, and was 
undoubtedly produced l)y a cross of the wild male upon our common 
turkey, impressed and fixed by careful breeding and selection, until they 
will weigh with the best specimens of the wild breed, sometimes attaining 
a weight of over forty pounds each. The general average, however, is 
about thirty pounds for mature, well fattened birds, while hens will go 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

from twenty to twenty-five pounds each. It is the largest as it is the 
most magnificent in plumage of the domesticated varieties, and as hardy 
as it is beautiful. 

In the cock the face, ear-lobes, wattles and jaws are deep rich red, the 
wattles warted and sometimes edged white, the bill curved, strong, of a 
light horn color at the tip and dark at the base. The neck, breast and 
back black, shaded with bronze, which in the sunlight glistens golden, 
each feather ending in a narrow glossy black band extending clear across. 
The under part of the body is similarly marked, but more subdued. The 
wing-bow is black, showing a brilliant greenish or brown lustre, the 
flight-feathers black, barred across with white or gray, even and regular ; 
the wing-coverts rich bronze, the end of each feather terminating in a 
wide black band, giving the wings when folded a broad bronze band 
across each ; tail black, each feather irregularly penciled with a narrow 
brown band, and ending in a grayish-bronze band. Fluff abundant and 
soft ; legs long, strong, dark or nearly black. The hen is similarly col- 
ored, but more subdued. 




GUINEA FOWL. 

V. Guinea Fowl. 

The Guinea fowl is quite widely disseminated, being found m its 
domesticated or rather half-domesticated state all over Europe and 
America ; yet can hardly be called common. The reason is they are 
shy and rather inclined to pair as in the case of other wild birds. In 
domestication one male may be allowed to about six females. They are 
grouped by some naturalists into a considerable number of varieties, but 
since the so-called species are all quite fertile together, the distinc- 
tion is probably merely fanciful. They are found wild in the Cape Verd 
Islands and in Jamaica, having undoubtedly been carried thence. 

The hen will lay about sixty or seventy eggs in a year, though they 
sometimes reach one hundred. The Pearl guinea fowl is the variety 



POULTRY, THE PEACOCK. 



953 



most usually met with in domestication, the spots being small and white 
on a purplish-gray ground. Karely these colors are found reversed. So 
blue and dun colored birds with but few and even no spots are sometimes 
seen. There is also a pure white variety, exceedingly rare. The sexes 
are difficult to distinguish, the colors being so nearly alike. The cock 
has more wattle, is often more mincing in his gait, as though walking on 
his toes, and more pugnacious. In fact, their quarrelsome nature and 
habit of straying has perhaps as much as anything else, prevented their 
becoming more common. 




VI. The Peacock. 

This magnificent bird, as useless as it is beautiful for its tail 
^feathers, and a rarity in the barn-yard, is as hardy as a turkey at 
maturity, and the young are not difficult to rear. The hen is very secret 
in stealing her nest in some out-of-the-way place where the male bird 
may not find it, since, if so, he is pretty sure to destroy the eggs. They 
do not commence laying until pretty late in the season, and keep their 
brood out of view until cold weather drives them home for food. The 
male is much given to wandering, often roaming for miles about the 
country, his strong pinions and immense tail enabling him to fly long 
distances. 



^A/'ater Fowl. 



CHAPTER VI. 



DUCKS. 



1. ROUEN DUCKS. II. AYLESBURY DUCKS. III. CALL DUCKS. IV. CAYUGA 

BLACK DUCKS V. GRAY DUCKS VI. BLACK EAST INDIA DUCKS. 

SUMMARY 



Ducks and geese are becoming more and more fancied from year to 
year on the farm, as they should properly be. The reason why they 
have not been more extensively raised than they have, is from the erro- 
neous opinion that a pond or lake is essential to them. They should 
have a pool of water to wash in ; this produced, it is all that is necessary 
so far as water is concerned ; in fact, without water they are more domes- 
ticated and less inclined to ramble. All the principal farm breeds of 
ducks are probablj^ descended from the Anas boschas, or wild Mallard. 
Like the wild goose, it is not diflScult to domesticate wild ducks. All 
that is necessary is to get the eggs and rear them under a hen, the eggs 
hatching in twenty-eight days. There is no farm bird that is a more 
inveterate insect hunter or more agile than a young duck, one specimen 
taking fully double per day what chickens will. Hence their value to 
the farmer, and especially the gardener, is very considerable in addition 
to their egg and flesh producing qualities. They should be raised more 
extensively than they are, and on every farm. 

I. Rouen Ducks. 

Whatever may have been the origin of the name, Rouen, from a town 
in France, celebrated for its ducks, or roan, from its color, this variety 
is simply a wild Mallard, improved and enlarged by selection and care in 
954 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 



955 



breeding. The markings as found in the wild variety will very perfectly^ 
describe the tame. Good specimens will dress six pounds each, and over; 
occasionally specimens will weiuh nearly eleven pounds, alive. Their 




flesh is abundant and of the very best flavor. Tliey scarcely wander a( 
all." In fact, they are so lazy and disinclined to exercise, that if abund* 



^5(5 ILLUSTKATF-D STOCK DOCTOR. 

antly fed they soon become so fat that their abdomens trail on the 
ground. From their inactivity they are the most easily stolen of any 
variety. The eggs are laid in great numbers, of a blue-green color, with 
thick shells, and should average in weight about three and a half ounces. 




o 

» 
o 

PS 

u 
pa 



II. Aylesbury Ducks. 
The Aylesbury duck is without doubt the most valuable of the English 
breeds and fully as well appreciated in this country as in England. They 
hardly' reach so great weight as the last mentioned variety, eighteeu 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 



967 



pounds the pair being about the outside figure. They are prolific layers, 
the eggs of a pure white color, thinner in the shell than those of the 
Rouen. The ducks are excellent mothers because less unwieldy than 
the Rouens. 

In buying ducks for breeding purposes, and especially the Aylesbury, 
avoid those that are down behind, from undue stretching of the abdom- 
inal muscles ; such birds are always sterile, both as to the ducks and 
■drakes. 




GRAY CALL DUCKS. 



III. Call Ducks. 

There are two varieties of small 
ducks that have the same relation to 
the large variety, as Bantams have to 
Barn-yard fowls. One is the Gray 
Call, the other the White Call duck. 
The first is an exact counterpart of 
the Rouen in every respect, even to 
the legs, feet and bill ; the other be- 
ing in color like the Aylesbury, but 
differing in the bill, which is a clear 
y^ellow, while the Aylesbury is flesh- 
olored. As fanciful things on a piece 
of water, they are very pretty, as to 
either variety. The colored variety 
is much used as decoy ducks for the wild species, being remarkable for 
their iou(Jj shrill and continuous quacking note. Hence their name, as they 
call the game from great distances and lure them within the range of the 
sportsman's rifle. 




WHITE DUCK. 



958 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



IV. Cayuga Black Ducks. 
These are the finest of the American breeds, as they are the largest^ 
most valuable and handsomest of the duck tribe. The plumage is a rich 
metallic black, with lustrous reflections on the head, neck and wings. 
The bill is blue-black, with a jet black splash in the middle of it. 




They have long, straight necks, long, straight head and beak, and in 
size they are fully equal to the Rouen, often weighing ten pounds each. 
The flesh is gamy in flavor, and to our taste fully equal to any of the 
wild species, except the Canvas-back, Widgeon and Teal. They are pro- 
lific in eggs, are quiet, mature at an early age, and excepting possibly th© 
Rouen, are the most valuable of all domesticated ducks. 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 



959 



V. Fancy Ducks. 

Among the most ornamental of the duck tribes are the Mandarin and 
the Carolina ducks, both unsurpassed for brilliance of plumage and 
variety of coloring. The Mandarins are a Chinese variety, and the Car- 
olinas the wild wood duck of the United States, domesticated and 
improved by careful breeding. 

The Muscovy duck is a large breed, and thought to be valuable on this 
account by some. They are only mentioned here on this account, since 
their strong flavor of musk should keep them from the tables of all who 
appreciate line flavor. 




BLACK EAST INDIA DUCK. 



VI. Black East India Duck. 
The Black East India duck which has appeared from time to time un- 
der various foreign names, as Labrador, Buenos Ayrean, and later as 
Black Brazilians, have little if anything to recommend them in comparison 
with better and larger breeds. They are undoubtedly a sport of the 
Mallard, and certainly are among the most beautiful of the small breeds, 
and are so hardy, and give so little trouble that it accounts probably for 
their many admirers. 

Summary. 

Ducks are valuable both for their feathers and flesh, for their aptitude 
in foraging for themselves, and especially for the great insect eating pro- 
pensities of the young, they should be raised on every farm. Wild ducks 



960 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



are so numerous in the West that this is probably a reason why they are 
not more extensively bred there. But wild ducks are in the market for 
only a comparatively short time in the Spring and Fall, and at all other 




cool seasons ducks may be sold, and are not to be despised on the tables- 
of the farmers. 

When flesh is the .principal object, and handsome ornamental qualities 
desired, the Rouen and especially the Black Cayuga will give satisfaction. 
If white feathers are desired the Aylesbury will be the best variety. As 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 



961 



to the rearing it is extremely simple, they are little liable to disease, and 
v/cU able to take care of themselves ; they must, however, have plenty of 
water to drink, and a pool to wash and swim in. These being furnished, 
if hatched under hens, they will give little trouble and fully repay the 
labor bestowed on them. Their period of incubation is thirty days. 




AYLUtmiJRY DRAKB. 



Water Fowl 



CHAPTER Vn. 



GEESE. 



I. EMBDEN OR BREMEN GEESE. II. TOULOUSE GEESE. III. HONG KONG GEESE. 

rV. WHITE CHINESE GEESE. V. THE AFHICAN GEKSE. VI. CANADA WILD GEESE. 

MANAGEMENT OP GEESE. 

Geese, like the guinea fowl are noisy creatures, and these two birds are 
nine times out of ten better "watch dogs" than the average cur. The 
former on the ground, and the latter perched high in a tree, see the 
smallest object and hear the slightest sound, and giving the alarm the 
noble watch dog wakes up, barks and gets the credit. There are only a 
few varieties which we shall notice, but these constitute about all that are 
valuable of those fowls that "saved Rome." 

I. Embden, or Bremen Geese. 

These, the most valuable to our mind of the whole tribe, taken for 
large size, pure white feathers, and aptitude to fatten, are worthy a place 
on any farm. They are spotless white in color throughout both male and 
female, full, and erect in carriage, the legs deep orange in color and the 
bill dark flesh color, the eyes bright blue. The eggs are white, large, and 
with rough thick shells. This breed attains enormous weights, often go- 
ing over thirty pounds, when mature, and the goose over thirtj'^-tive 
pounds. For breeding purposes twenty pounds will be a full weight for 
the ganders. 
962 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 963 

n. Toulouse Geese. 
Next in order of practical merit, to our mind, is the Toulouse ; these 
are called after the city of that name in France. They are most compact 
in body, not so tall as the Bremen, but will often outweigh them. In 




color they are light gray as to their bodies and breasts, the neck dark 
gray, getting gradually darker until it approaches the back, the wings are 
of the color of the neck, shaded off lighter as it approaches the belly and 
at length becoming white ; the legs and feet are a deep reddish orange, 
61 



964 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



the bill the same, toned somewhat with brown. Both the Embden 
and Toulouse may be easily raised under hens, by regularly sprinkling the 




TOULOUSE GEESE. 



eggs with blood-warm water, to keep the shells from becoming hard and 
thus imprisoning the young. This, with even a tub of water set in the 
ground, and good feeding, will insure success in geese raising. 

III. Hong Kong Geese. 

The China Hong Kong, or Knobbed goose, so named from the protu^ 
berances at the base of the bill, really possesses some of the characteristics 
of the swan as it does of geese. It is also in size, between a medium 
sized goose and swan, is highly ornamental in the water, hardy, the most 
prolific of any in eggs, and the quality of the flesh is superior. It has a 
harsh, discordant cry, and if allowed full liberty will steal away at night, 
if water for swimming in be near, or it can find it. This nocturnal habit, 
however, can be prevented by shutting up at night in a place safo from 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 



965 



foxes or owls, which should be practiced with all geese and ducks. Hong 
Kong geese vary much in color ; they all have the same characteristic pro- 
tuberances at the bill, and also a distinct stripe down the back of the 
neck. They should have a dewlap, or feathered wattle under the throat, 
the bills and legs should be of an orange color, and the protuberances at 




the base of the upper bill, dark, in fact almost black, the most usual color 
is grayish brown on the back and upper parts, changing to white or 
whitish gray under the abdomen, the neck and breast yellowish gray, with 
a distinguishing stripe of dark brown running down the entire back of the 
neck, from the head to the body. 



966 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

rV. White Chinese Geese. 



The White Chinese geese are of immense size, pure spotless white 
throughout; the legs bright orange colored, bill the same color and with 
a large orange colored knob at its hnf^o. It is more swan-like than the 




Hong Kong, of which it is perhaps a variety, and either in or out of the 
water is a most pleasing object. When swimming, its long, slender neck 
is gracefully arched, and whether for ornament or use, it is certainly a val- 
uable breed. It is certainly as prolific as its colored relation, laying a large 
number of rather small eggs in a season, breeding three or four times. 



POULTRY, WATER FOWL. 



967 



the period of incubation being five weeks. The goslings are easily raised, 
and are of fine eating quality. A peculiarity of the breed is the disparity 
in the relative size of the sexes, the males being often one-third heavier 
than the females. 



V. The African Goose. 



This immense goose, among the largest of the tribe, is of fine carriage 
and bulk, carrying its neck upright, and head high, when walking. The 
head and top of the neck are brown, deep on the upper side and some- 
what lighter on the under side ; the bill is armed with small indentations 




AFRICAN GOOSE. 



along the sides, and at the base, on top rises a round, fleshy tubercle, of 
a bright vermilion color, and under the throat is a hard, firm, fleshy 
membrane. These birds have also been called Siberian geese, but the 
name African is undoubtedly the proper one. 

VI. Canada Wild Geese. 
This excellent goose may be easily hatched from wild eggs, and which 
upon being domesticated, take kindly to the farm. It is too well known 



968 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOUTOK,- 

to need description ; wlien farm-bred it retains much of the game nature 
of the flesh of the wild bird. Their sagacity is superior to that of any 
other goose. It has a wide range of flight in its wild state, being found 
at proper seasons from the Arctic circle to the Torrid zone, and in Europe 
as well as in America ; specimens having been shot in England. It is 
certainly one of the most beautiful of water fowls. It breeds kindly 
with any of the common varieties, and is reputed in France to have inter- 
bred with swans. 

Management- 
There is but little care necessary in breeding geese. They require a 
dry place for passing the night ; are subject to but few diseases, and 
these only when young. For diarrhoea, give a drop or two of laudanum 
in a little water, to be repeated if the first dose does not cure. For gid- 
diness, bleed them in the prominent vein which separates the claw. In- 
sects sometimes annoy them by getting into the nostrils and ears. It 
may be known by their hanging Avings, and the shaking of their heads. 
Teed them corn at the bottom of a vessel of water. For fattening, there 
is nothing better than corn-meal, steamed potatoes and skimmed milk, 
alternated with ground buckwheat, oat-meal or barley-meal. During the 
fattening process they should be kept closely confined. When fattening, 
the French pluck the feathers from the belly. They should be fed three 
times a day, and supplied with plenty of pure water, and when fat, which 
should be in two or three weeks from the commencement of feeding, they 
should be sold immediately, since they at once begin to lose flesh again. 



PART X. 
Diseases of Poultry, 

AND THEIR REMEDIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



ANATOMY OF THE HEN. APOPLEXY. ITS CAUSE. ROUP TO CURE. EGG BOUND. 

INFLAMMATION OP THE EGG PASSAGE. CHOLERA. GAPES. CAUSE. HOW 

TO CURE.— —CROP BOUND. DIPHTHERIA, OR CROUP, LICE. 



Diseases of Fowls. 



There are but few diseases to which fowls are subject. Some of these, 
as apoplexy, are so sudden and fatal that there is scarcely time for reme- 
dies. Others, as so called chicken cholera, are malignant and infectious, 
and thus require watching. Others again, inflammatory in their nature, 
are difficult to understand and hence difficult to treat. The general run 
of diseases, however, to which the fowls of the farmer and suburban 
fancier are liable to in his flock are, as a rule, simple in their nature and 
of easy treatment. We shall, therefore, divide diseases into but two di- 
visions — dangerous and simple ailments. In the first class will be 
considered those more fatal, and in the second class mere ailments, as leg 
weakness, bumble foot, catarrh, diarrhea, pip, lice, and other parasites. 
For a better understanding of the subjects, we introduce figures showing^ 
the skeleton of a fowl, their true positions and proper names. It will 
make a good study in connection with those on plumage, etc. 

971 



S72 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR- 



Anatomy of the Hen. 

Explanation.— ^— The head, length 2 3-4 inches. 5— The neck, length 5 1-2 
Inches. O— The back or spine. Z>— The hips or hip bones, (the back and hips 

comprise from the shoulder to the tail,) 
length 5 9 10 inches. £ — Rump or 
coccygis, length 1 1-2 inches, i?'— Shoul- 
der-blade or shoulder. G — Collar bone 
or merry thought, jff— Chest or thorax, 
composed of the sides and breast bone 
(bone of the throat), it contains the heart, 
liver, etc. 7— The breast bone, length 
a little over 3 1-2 inches. J — The wing 
bones, as will be seen, are composed of the 
humerus or shoulder-bone of the wing, 
length 3 1-7 inches ; also the radius and 
the cubitus, the forearm or pinion, length 
2 3-4 inches ; the tip of the wing, or 
that which takes the place of the hand 
and fingers, length 2 1-3 inches. K— 
The leg, composed of d — (Fig. 2.) the 
thigh bone, 3 1-7 inches ; e — the shin bone, length 4 1-3 
inches ; /—the bone of the foot, the tarsus, length 3 1-7 
inches ; g — the claws, that of the middle, length 2 1-3 in- 
ches ; the two to the right and left, length 1 6-10 inches ; 
that of the back, length 8-10 inches ; h — the patella or 
knee ; i — the os calcis or heel. 




AXATOMY OF THE HKN . (Fig. 1). 




(Fig. 2.) 



The engraving (Fig.l.) represents the skeleton of 
an ordinary hen of an average size, and in the pro- 
portions to be generally met with. The only impor- 
tant muscles are those which compose the flesh, from 
which are formed the breast, the thigh, the leg and 
the wings. All the others are slender and only furnish 
a little for table use. 

People often confound the thigh, the leg, the foot and toes of the hen, 
and so it is with nearly all animals. One expects to see her walk on the 
foot, thousfh she walks like them on the toes. It is evident that the 
tarsus of the hen is the foot she would use on the ground if she walked 
like man ; the end opposite the toes is the heel. Some fowls have five or 
six toes but they do not all rest on the ground always. 

Apoplexy— Its Cause. 

Over-feeding and over-stimulating of fowls — seldom occurring on the 
farm — and generally known by finding the subject dead, often in the 



POULTRY, ITS DISEASES. 973 

nest. Prevention is the proper means to use. Give plenty of exercise 
and good wholesome food, but not that of an over-stimulating nature. 
The cure is bj opening a blood vessel and bleeding freely, selecting the 
largest of the veins on the underside of the wing. Hold the vein be- 
tween the opening and the body, and release it when blood enough is 
taken. Keep the bird quiet and on light diet until recovered. 

Roup. 

The sjanptoms are at first those of severe catarrh. The discharge 
loses its thin, watery, transparent character, gets opaque, with a peculiar 
and offensive smell. The inner corner of the eye contains froth, the 
lids swell, stick together and at last close. The nostrils close from the 
same accumulation ; the sides of the face swell and the bird dies. It is 
a disease of the lining membrane of the nasal cavities. 

To Cure. 

Provide warm, dry, well-ventilated quarters, stimulating and nutritious 
food. Give internally a tea or a table-spoonful of castor oil, according 
to the size of the fowl, syringe the nostrils with chloride of soda, two 
parts water to one part of chloride. Inject by inserting the syringe in 
the slit at the roof of the mouth. Three or four hours after the oil give 
the following : 

• No. 1. }i Ounce balsam copaiba, 

^ Ounce liquorice powder, 
y* Drachm piperine. 

Divide into thirty doses, enclose each in a little gelatine, and give a 
dose twice a day. Isolate the sick fowls from all others, and kill promptly 
if they do not yield to treatment. 

Egg Bound. 
In this disability the eggs cannot pass down the passage. Strip a tail 
feather to within an inch of the end ; saturate it thoroughly in lard oil or 
sweet oil, and pass it carefully up the passage to the egg^ lubricating the 
whole. If relief is not given, repeat the process. 

Inflammation of the Egg Passage. 

Symptoms. — There will be general feverishness, dullness, and the 
feathers, especially those over the back, will be raised and ruffled. Give 
the f olio win 0^ : 

No. 2. 1 Grain calomel, 

1-12 Grain tartar emetic. 

Mix ; envelop in gelatine and place well back on the root of the tongue 
until swallowed. If relief do not ensue in two days, give another dose. 



974 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Cholera. 

Symptoms. — ^There is sudden and great thirst with diarrhoea ; the evac- 
uations are greenish, but soon change to a whitish character ; cramp en- 
sues and the bird totters, falls, and often dies suddenly. Administer 
every three hours, until relief is obtained, the following ; 

No. 3. 5 Grains rhubarb, 

2 Grains cayenne pepper, 
10 drops laudanum. 

Give this at a dose for large fowls, and half this quantity to chickens 
two months old. Between each dose keep up the strength by giving a 
tea-spoonful of brandy and water, half and half. This is also good for 
common diarrhoea, omitting the brandy. 

Gapes. 

Parasitic worms (sclerostoma syngamus) in the windpipe, occurring in 
chickens up to two or three months of age. 

How to Cure. 

Separate the chickens affected ; strip a small quill feather to within 
half an inch of the end. Dip in spirits of turpentine ; pass it down the 
small opening of the windpipe, at the base of the tongue ; turn it once or 
twice around and draw it out. If it does not relieve operate again next 
day. Give a warm, dry place, plenty of good food, and for drink, milk 
well sprinkled with black pepper. It is supposed that the gape worm is 
produced by a small parasite insect resembling a tick found on the heads 
of young chickens. Examine the heads with a pocket lens and if found 
use the following, Ugbtly rubbed on. 

No. 4c. 1 Ounce mercurial ointment, 

1 Ounce lard oil, 
K Ounce flowers of sulphur, 
y^ Ounce crude petroleum. 

Mix, and apply just warm enough to be melted. It is said that a case 
of gapes has never been found in which the young chickens were not first 
infected with the tick parasite. 

Black Rot. 

Swelling of the legs and feet, the comb black, veseml)ling mortification. 
Give a tea-spoonful of castor oil, and then daily, until relieved, half a 



POULTKY. ITS DISEASES. 975 

tea-spoonful of flowers of sulphur. This is also good in scaly leg, and 
-eruptions of various kinds, using also, after washing clean, the following : 

No. 5. 4 Ounces lard oil, 

1 Ounce turmeric powder. 
Anoint the affected parts. 

Catarrh — Symptoms like the first in Eoup. Cleanliness is the best 
prevention. To cure, feed black pepper in mashed potatoes. If this 
fails, take : 

No. 6 3 Parts pulverized charcoal, 

3 Parts new yeast, 

2 Parts flowers of sulphur, 
1 Part flour. 

Mix into pills the size of a hazelnut and give one, three times a day ; 
bathe the nostrils and eyes frequently with tepid milk and water, and 
keep the fowls otherwise clean. 

Crop Bound. 
The food sometimes becomes bound and impacted in the crop. The 
remedy is to make an incision into the crop suflSciently large so the con- 
tents may be carefully extracted with a blunt instrument. Close with a 
stitch, and feed with soft food for two or three days, in which a little 
gentian and cayenne pepper is mixed. 

Diphtheria, or Croup. 

It may be known by the cough, raising of the head to breathe, and the 
offensive smell. 

What to do — Strip a feather to within half an inch of the end ; wet it 
and dip in powdered borax, and swab the throat well. Nitrate of silver 
would be more effective. Give to drink, chloride of potassium one-fourth 
of an ounce dissolved in a half gallon of water. 

Preventive — Cleanliness, good ventilation and care. The rule will ap- 
ply to roup, catarrh, gapes, pip, and other acute and chronic diseases. 

Pip — This is a result of other diseases rather than a disease of itself. 
Eemove the crust at the tip of the tongue and wash with chloride of soda, 
examine the nostrils for any stoppage, and give a tea-spoonful of castor 
oil if the fowl be very sick. 

Rheumatism — Cause — Exposure to damp and cold winds, and bad 
roosting places ; remove the fowls to comfortable quarters, and feed 
warm, rather soft, stimulating food. 

Laying soft eggs — Give plenty of lime rubbish, burned and broken 
oyster shells, or bone meal. 



976 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Lice. 

There should be no excuse for infestment by these parasites. Thej" 
will sometimes make their appearance on new fowls, and setting hens 
will sometimes contract them. They are of two kinds : the common hen 
louse, and minute "hen spider," so-called. The latter very minute and 
infestino- every part of the house, and often the horse stables, if the hens 
are allowed to run there. To rid the house, take out every movable art- 
icle and wash thoroughly with carbolic acid and water, or with the ammo- 
niacal water of gas factories, which is cheap. Wash also every portion of 
the house with the same. Or, fumigate by closing every crevice, and 
burning in an iron pot containing a burning hot stone, half the size of a 
man's head, a pound of roll brimstone, keeping the house closed two or 
three hours. Then wash every part of the house with lime-wash in which 
a pound of potash has been dissolved to each quart of water used in thin- 
ning the wash. Wash also the furniture, nests, perches and all else with 
the potash solution, one pound to a quart of water. Put back the furni- 
ture, place fresh hay in the boxes, plenty of dust baths near, and the lice 
will leave the fowls and die. In case the stable becomes infested, or 
other places that may not be fumigated, wash with the potash solution* 
or the lime-wash, containing one part in twenty of carbolic acid. 




BACK OF THE BARN. 



PART XI. 



B 



EES; 



THEIR HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS 

AisTD ma:n^agemekt. 



^n 



BEES. 

BIT "W. IP. CXiJ^uI^KIE. 




STRAW HIVE. 



Bees belong to that class in the animal kingdom known by naturalists as 
Insecta. The division in which they range is called Hymenoptera, from two 
Greek words denoting membrane and wings. Wasps, ants, ichneumon flies, 
and saw flies, are members of the same family. The natural history of bees- 
is a large study in itself, and can only be dealt with in these pages, in so far as. 
it bears on the management of an apiary. There are several varieties of bees. 
That which has been domesticated by man is known as Apis MelUjica, or the 
honey-bee. The earliest historical references to this insect are found in the 
Bible. Samson ate honey that had been stored in the carcass of a lion 
previously slain by him. Honey is mentioned several times in the Old 
Testament. It is spoken of as dripping from the flinty rock, an allusion 
which shows that in ancient times, as now, the bees of Palestine took possession' 
of rocky cavities as hives and stored honey in them. Wild honey formecf' 
part of the diet of John the Baptist. Honey, and the honeycomb, are- 
familiar Scripture emblems. Coming now to profane history, we find Aristotle 
writing of bees upwards of three hundred years B. c. Virgil immortalized 
them in his fourth Georgic, some three hundred years later. Columella and" 
Pliny the elder wrote about bees during the first century, after which nothing 
worthy of note is on record concerning them, until two centuries after the 
revival of learning in Europe. Swamraerdam, a Dutch entomologist, 
published about the middle of the seventeenth century, " The Natural History 
of Bees." A century later, Linnseus, the great Swedish naturalist, threw a 
flood of light on the whole subject of insect habits, those of bees included. 
Reaumer of France, Bormet of Switzerland, Fabricius of Denmark, Kirby 
and Spence of England, Huber of Germany, Packard and others of 
America, also, later on, Dzierzon, the Baron of Berlepsch, Langstroth, 
Quinby, Cook, and a host of others have written treatises on the honey-bee, 
60 that the literature of this subject forms a large library in itself. 

62 979 



980 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Queen, Drones, and Workers. 
There are three kinds of bees in every stock or colony, a queen, a numbei 
of drones, and a far greater number of workers. The accompanying cuts will 
give some idea of their differences in size, shape, and general appearance : 






QUEEN. 



WORKER. 



The queen is the most important member of the colony, being the mother 
bee, and laying all the eggs from which an increase of population is derived. 
Her wings are short, her body long and tapering, and her movements peculiar. 
The drones are portly-looking, aldermanic insects, each with a jolly corpor- 
ation of his own. They are "the lazy fathers of the industrious hive." 
They perform no work, but live a life of luxurious idleness. The workers are 
undeveloped females; on them all the labors of the hive depend. 



THE STAGES OF BEE-LIFE. 

As in the case of other insects, there are four separate stages in the develop- 
ment of bees, the egg state, the larva, the pupa and the imago. Three of 
these terms need explaining. Larva means grub or maggot. The pupa is 
sometimes called a chrysalis. At this stage of its life, the insect is like a babe 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, a thin membrane being bound around its body. 
The term imago, or image, refers to the fact that the form of the insect is now 
• complete, real and apparent. Two kinds of eggs are laid by the queen-bee, 

drones and workers. There are two 
sizes of cells in every hive, the larger 
called drone-comb, to contain drone 
eggs; and the smaller called worker- 
comb, to receive worker eggs. The 
instinct of the queen guides her in 
making the eggs correspond with the 
cells in which they are laid. When 
it is necessary to rear a queen, one of 
the worker cells, containing a newly laid egg, is enlarged until it resembles 
a pea-nut in shape and size. The following cut will make all this plainer : 




COMB FOUNDATION, SHOWING DRONE AND 
WORKER CELLS. 



BEES. 



981 







bed 



EGG AND BROOD. 



6, and c, ejjors. j, pupa of queen in queen cell, c?, c,/, ^, various sizes of 
larvae, k, k, k, caps, h, pupa. 

The worker egg when first laid is a mere speck. In three days it hatches 
into a small white grub or worm. It is fed by the worker bees and grows 
rapidly ; in six days the cell which contains it is capped over by the worker 
bees ; then the larva spins a thin silken cocoon, and in three days assumes the 
pupa state. Then comes a long period of repose. In twenty -one days, the fully- 
formed worker bee emerges from the cell. A queen is more quickly developed 
than a common or worker bee. She comes forth, a perfect insect, on the six- 
teenth day from the laying of the egg. The drone takes longer to mature, 
and requires twenty-four days for its growth from the egg to the perfect con- 
dition. 

DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONS OF THE QUEEN. 

After hatching out, a queen requires impregnation to fit her for her maternal 
duties. This takes place during flight. Five or six days after issuing 
from the cell, or perhaps earlier, if the weather be pleasant, the young queen 
goes forth on her bridal tour, meets a drone on the wing, and returns to the 
hive impregnated for life. She never leaves the hive again, except when she 
does so with a swarm. As only a single drone, and one sexual act is needed 
to render a queen fertile for life, wonder has been expressed that there should 
be so many drones. It is doubtless a provision of nature to prevent the 
extinction of bees when in single colonies in the woods. Bee-keepers who 
understand their business, knowing that only a few drones are needed in an 
apiary, will reduce their number by cutting out drone comb when it is super- 
abundant. About two days after she is impregnated, the queen usually begins 
to lay worker eggs. It is a curious fact in bee-life that a queen can lay fertile 
drone eggs, without impregnation, another wise provision of nature for the 
preservation of the species. Before laying an egg the queen generally looks 
into a cell, to see if it be empty. Finding all right, she turns about, inserts 
her abdomen in the cell, and drops the tiny egg, which by virtue of a 
sticky fluid which encases it, is immediately glued to the bottom of the cell. 



982 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

The one duty of the queen is to lay eggs, and the number she will produce^ 
if a good layer, is truly astonishing. Two or three thousand eggs per day 
will be laid by such a queen, and an extra fertile one will lay three thousand 
or more in a single day. Hence a hive will increase in population very 
rapidly during the working season. At such a time many bees are lost while 
out foraging, moreover they are short-lived insects, so that the hive needs 
constant and quick replenishment. A worker usually lives but a few weeks or 
at most months, while the average life-time of a queen is about three years. 
Drones are usually found in the hive from May to November, though it is 
the custom of the workers to kill them off early in the summer. 

PRODUCTS OF BEES. 

Bees gather honey, an article too well known to require description. They 
also manufacture wax out of which the cells are made, and which forms the 
bees- wax of commerce. They collect pollen or bee-bread, which forms the 
staple food of young bees. A substance called propolis or bee-glue is gathered 
by the bees. It is the product of various resinous buds, is soft and plastic 
when warm, but hard and very adhesive when cold. It is used by the bees to 
fasten the combs to their supports, to fill up all crevices and rough places 
inside the hive, or to cover foreign substances which cannot be removed. 

The above is only a meagre sketch of the natural history, characteristics, 
and functions of bees, but it must suffice by way of introduction to some 
brief remarks and directions about 

BEE MANAGEMENT. 

Bee-keeping takes rank among the lesser economies of the farm. In Great 
Britain a farm would not be thought properly stocked unless it had a few 
hives of bees upon it. This is doubtless the correct view; but keeping bees 
is engaged in by many persons as an independent pursuit. Skillfully man- 
ao-ed, it is found to be a fairly remunerative business, and, with special 
talent and application, may properly be regarded as a money-making affair. 
There are men on the continent of America who have amassed respectable 
fortunes out of it. Bees may be kept on a small scale by others besides 
farmers. On a small town or village lot, a few hives well-cared for, may be 
made a source of much pleasure and profit. A vast amount of national 
wealth is being lost through neglect of bee-keeping. It is a suitable avocation 
for women, many of whom are now engaged in it, and some of them rank 
among the best apiarians of the age. 

OLD AND NEW STYLE BEE-KEEPING. 

Until of late years, bee-keeping was a very crude affair. It was usually 
.carried on with straw or box hives, to the interior of which the bee-keeper 



BEES. 



983 



had no access, consequently the bees were left almost wholly to their own 
devices during the working season, at the close of which they were brimstoned, 
and robbed of their stores. It was a great ste[) of progress when movable 
frame hives were invented. By the use of these, artificial swarming takes the 
place of natural swarming, and instead of the bee-master having to await the 
convenience and caprice of the bees,' with the risk of losing swarms if watch 
of the apiary be intermitted, he consults his own convenience, divides over- 
populated colonies, and avoids loss of swarms. Moreover, when stocks 
become queenless and are in danger of extinction, a new queen, or brood from 
which to rear one, can readily be supplied ; moths can be exterminated ; 
comb, bees and honey can be given to weak colonies, and surplus honey 
readily taken. The bees, instead of managing themselves under the guidance 
of mere instinct, are managed by the superior intelligence of their human 
lords. 

THE HONEY EXTRACTOR. 

It was a still further step in improved apiaculture, when the honey extractor 
was devised. This machine, by the simple application of centrifugal force, 
empties the well-filled combs almost to the last drop of honey, and on their 





HONEY EXTKACTOR. 



COMB BASKET FOR EXTRACTING HONETl 
FROM BROKEN COMB. 



being replaced in the hive, the bees at once proceed to refill them. By the 
use of this machine, the yield of honey is doubled, trebled, and even quad- 
rupled, in good seasons. 



THE WAX EXTRACTOR. 



Wax, to be put in shape as the bees-wax of commerce, requires to be melted 
pnd strained, so as to secure perfect purity. This is best done in a double 



984 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

tin vessel, having as the inner receptacle, a strainer. The accompanying 




WAX EXTRACTOR. 



cut represents the kind of vessel now in use by the best apiarians for this 
purpose. 

NEW RACIS OF BEES. 

The importation and breeding of Italian and other foreign bees is another 
progressive idea of great value. Bees, like larger stock, deteriorate by in- 
and-in breeding, and there are common and superior tribes of bees, as there 
are of cattle, horses, sheep, swine and poultry. The Italians have proved 
a great advance on the ordinary black bees. They are hardier, more busy 
than "the little busy bee" with which all are familiar, more prolific, more 





JAVA QUEEN. 



HOL.Y QUEEN. 





CYPRIAN QUEEN. 



ITALIAN QUEEN. 



beautiful in appearance, and, last but not least, more pacific — not so easily 
provoked, and consequently less inclined to sting when meddled with by mnn. 
There are other races of bees from which much is expected; notably those of 
the island of Cyprus, and the land of Palestine. So far as tried, these are 
believed to be superior to the Italians. A huge bee found on the island of 



BEES. 985 

Java, apis dorsata, is about to be imported. Tlie bee of the future is yet to 
be developed by careful breeding, and it is especially desired to secure a 
greater length of tongue, so as to penetrate flowers whose honey cells are too 
deep to be reached by any known race of bees. The red clover yields a vast 
amount of honey, but it remains ungathered for want of bees able to harvest 
the crop. 

PROSPECTS OF BEE-CULTURE. 

Apiarians are sanguine in the belief that bee-keeping is but in its infancy 
as yet. Great improvements have been made in the art, of late years, 
and there can be little doubt that further advances in it will be witnessed ere 
long. The march of progress has not reached its limit ; science and skill are 
busily engaged in experimenting, and it is reasonable to expect that, in a few 
years, apiaculture will take a much higher place than it now does amoog rural 
industries. 

STARTING AN APIARY. 

Bee-keeping is an art requiring both study and practice. No one should 
attempt it who is not resolved, in the first place, to master the principles 
on which it is based. To do this, a good manual on the subject should be 
obtained, and thoroughly studied. Next, it will be well to visit some skilled 
apiarist, and watch his methods. Indeed, a short apprenticeship would be a 
wise course on the part of any and all who think of going into bees extensively. 
Those who only meditate keeping bees on a small scale, may venture, after 
studying a manual, and visiting a good bee-keeper, to start with a hive or two. 
More are not desirable, at the outset, as in case of failure and mishap, the loss 
might be serious. In buying slocks, care should be taken to have them 
strong, and from the start, the motto will be found to be a wise one, " keep all 
colonies strong." 

HIVES. 
It is to be presumed that no intelligent person will go into bee-keeping 
now-a-days with any intention of using the old-fashioned box-hive, still less 
the time-honored and picturesque-looking straw "skep." The movable 
frame principle is essential to any success worthy the name. A great many 
styles of hive have been put on the market, many of them too complicated 
and costly for practical bee-keeping. A simple, cheap hive is as good as the 
best ; in fact, is the best. Mr. D. A. Jones, of Beeton, Ontario, the most 
renowned and successful bee-keeper in the world, at the present time, after a 
trial of all the hives of any note in America, and an inspection of the leading 
apiaries of Europe, has settled down on a hive, which is the simplest, cheapest, 
and most easily managed of any hive now in use ; while it is as effective as 
any. It is made in two styles, single-boarded and double-boarded. The 
accompanying engraving will give an idea of the double-boarded hive : 



'jse 



lI.LUSi'RATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Mr. Jones has furnished the following description of his hives : "My 
single-boarded hive costs one dollar, and contains twelve frames about 10| by 
13 inches. The frames are of the most approved shape, so constructed that 
the projection at the bottom prevents the killing or injuring of any bees, 




DOUBLE WALLED HIVE. 



while lifting out the combs, or manipulating them. It also contains a 
movable division-board, which is indispensable to success, it being adjusted to 
suit the size of the colony of bees. No hive is complete without one. 
The inside dimensions of my hive are 12^ by 18 by 15 inches. My double- 
walled hive is the same size interiorly, taking the same frame as the single- 
walled hive. It is very neat in appear- 
ance, and looks well on a lawn. It is 
equally well adapted for both extracted 
and comb honey. From its peculiar con- 
struction,, it requires no extra protection 
either summer or winter. In it, colonies 
may be safely wintered on their summer 
stands. The boards used are thin, yet the 
hive is strongly constructed. It has a 
hollow four-inch wall on all sides of it, 
and a double bottom, also enclosing a 
four-inch space. The four-inch spaces 
thus made are closely packed with straw, 
cut fine in a cutting-box, which forms an 
excellent non-conductor. A chaff cushion, 
eight or ten inches thick, is laid on top 
of the frames, on the approach of cold 
MB. D. A. JONES, THE CELEBRATED BEE- wcathcr. Thus thc bccs arc kept at once 
KING OP BEETON, oNTAKio. Warm aud dry." 

TRANSFERRING BEES. 

The beginner in apiaculture will very likely have to buy bees housed in box- 




BEES. 987 

hives, which will render it necessary to transfer them into movable frame 
hives. A brief explanation of the transferring process is therefore desirable. 
The best time to transfer is early in the season, when there is but little honey 
or brood in the hive. It may, however, be done at any time, with proper 
care. The weather must be warm, and the bees busily at work. Blow a 
little smoke in at the entrance to the hive ; pause for two or three minutes to 
give the smoke time to produce its effect; then carry the hive a few feet away 
and turn it bottom side up. Place a box over the hive, and with a stick rap 
on the hive for about twenty minutes. The bees will fill themselves with 
honey, and go with the queen up into the box, forming a cluster there. A few 
young bees will remain in the old hive, but this is of no consequence. Take 
the box to the old stand, leaving the front edge raised, so that the bees out 
foraging can join their companions, and all get fresh air. If other bees give 
no trouble, the rest of the operation can be performed out-of-doors, but if 
there is any annoyance of this kind, remove the old hive into a room, shed, or 
barn, pry it apart carefully ; cut the combs from the sides, and get them loose 
with as little damage as possible. There should be a barrel set on end, and a 
board of convenient size placed on top of it. Lay several thicknesses of cloth 
on the board, as a soft bed for the comb. Now take a sheet of comb, lay it 
flat on the cloth, place a frame on the comb, and carefully cut out the comb, 
the exact size of the frame inside. Press the frame over the comb, being 
particular to have it " right side up " as it was in the old hive, then fasten the 
comb in tiie frame by winding around it either twine or fine wire. To raise 
the frame perpendicular before fastening the comb, tilt the board beneath it. 
Set the frame, fixed as described in the new hive, and proceed with the rest in 
the same way, until all the worker-comb, i. e., that containing the small sized 
cells, is secured. It is a good opportunity to get rid of drone-comb. The 
pieces of worker comb l^ft at the end of the process may be fitted into a 
frame, and secured there by thin flat strips of wood, tied at the end with 
twine, or tacked with very small tacks. Having fastened all the worker- 
comb practicable into the frames, all the remaining bits both of worker and 
drone-comb should be saved as starters for boxes and sections. Now place the 
hive on the old stand and shake all the bees out of the box in front of the 
hive. If the alighting-board is properly arranged, so that the bees can 
readily find their way in at the entrance, they will not be long in taking 
possession of their new home. They will go to work at once and put things 
to rights. In two or three days they will have all loose combs fastened, so that 
the strips, wires and strings may be removed. 

THE BEE-SMOKER. 

In the operation just described, and many others, a little machine called 
the bee-smoker will be found very useful. Blowing a little smoke into a hive 



988 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOE. 



of bees has a quieting effect upon them, so that they can be easily handled. 
The smoker is merely a small pair of bellows attached to a pipe, into which 
some combustible material is put ; the smoke from this is driven by the 




BEE-SMOKEB. 

bellows out of the pipe, and can be directed to any place desired. The smoker 
can be worked with one hand, leaving the other free to do whatever the 
bee-keeper may wish. 

LOCATION OF THE APIARY. 

The apiary should be near at hand, where it can be closely watched with 
but little trouble. An easterly aspect is preferred by most bee-keepers, in 
order that the early morning sun may strike the hives, and arouse the inmates 
to work betimes. Shade during the hottest part of the day is desirable. A 
grove, if somewhat open, is a nice place for hives of bees. In many cases they can 
be set to good advantage in an orchard. A lawn and shrubbery often afford 
eligible places for bee-hives, under the partial shelter of a shade-tree, an 
evergreen, or a grape-vine. Bee-houses are generally dis- 
carded by the best bee-keepers. It is better to have each 
hive by itself. In exposed situations, wind-screens are 
necessary. A close board fence is, in many cases, very 
suitable. The use of a double-walled hive renders several 
of the precautions just mentioned unnecessary. 

BEE VEILS. 

Beginners in bee-keeping and those who are objects of 
dislike to bees, as some people are, find it necessary to wear 
a veil. A simple piece of black net fastened around the 
hat with an elastic string, and long enough to tuck under 
BEE VEIL. the collar of the coat, will answer the purpose. The an- 

nexed engraving will show a bee-keeper thus attired, ready 
for business. 

Some also wear gloves, but these are very awkward in handling bees. The 
best for the purpose are the sheep-skin gauntlets known as "thistle-mits." 




BEES. 989 

AN EXAMPLE OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL BEE-KEEPING. 

Mr. D. A. Jones, of Beeton, Ontario, heads the list of successful apiarians 
and ranks as the champion bee-keeper of the world. He has kept bees from 
boyhood, beginning with the old-fashioned method, but, at length getting 
hold of the best modern books on bee-keeping, rapidly made his way to 
the front, and became wiser than his teachers. He attained his highest 
success in 1879, when from three hundred colonies of bees he obtained 
the marvellous average of two hundred and fifty pounds of honey per 
hive. The next year being unfavorable, the honey yield was less, but he 
largely increased his colonies in number, so that his profits from stocks and 
honey were in the neighborhood of six thousand dollars. He has now one 
thousand colonies, which, at the low average, for him, of ten dollars profit 
per hive, will yield next season ten thousand dollars. The likelihood is that 
he will double that amount of gain. Mr. Jones has visited various parts of 
Europe, including the island of Cyprus, and has also been to the Holy 
Land in search of the best races of bees for honey storing. He has an agent, 
who is a skillful apiarian, travelling through Asia on the same errand, and 
specially charged to obtain the best specimens of a large bee called a-pis 
dorsata. The races of bees thus collected are being bred with great care on 
isolated islands in the Georgian Bay, various crosses made, and points of 
excellence noted with scientific accuracy. Great advances have already been 
made in bee-breeding, and it is believed that a race of bees will yet be 
developed, that will be, like the shorthorn among cattle, far in advance of the 
common and native breed. Mr. Jones considers that bee-keeping only 
requires to be better understood to become a vast source of individual and 
national wealth. As he has no secrets to hide, and is only anxious to see 
apiaculture undertaken more extensively, he is ready at all times to impart 
what he knows for the benefit of others, and has furnished for this work the 
following account of the way he handles his bees with a view to securing the 
largest amount of profit attainable from them : 

MR. Jones's way of bee-keeping. 

"My method varies somewhat with seasons and circumstances. I will state 
it as applicable to ordinary seasons, and shaped so as to secure a moderate 
increase of stocks, along with the largest practicable yield of surplus honey. 

setting out the hives in spring. 

" Supposing the bees to have been wintered in a cellar or frost-proof house, 
the first care of the bee-keeper in early spring will be to set them on the 
stands they are to occupy during the summer. No precise date can be given 
for doing this. I usually set out my bees on the first appearance of black 



990 V«,^C-«--^ ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

alder bloom, which occurs the first really warm spell of weather. They will 
take a purifying flight, and theu the bee-keeper must seize the earliest 
opportunity of examining each stock to see that all have queens. Any queen- 
less ones may be doubled up, with weak stocks that have queens. All weak 
stocks must be doubled up, whether queeuless or not, else they will dwindle 
away to nothing. Great care must be taken so that they may have plenty of 
food, as there will be a quick consumption of it when breeding begins. I 
crowd the bees up into a very limited compass by means of division boards, 
and fill the spaces between the division-boards and the walls of the hive with 
chaff or cut-straw. Feeding the bees daily stimulates the queen to lay, and 
as the combs become filled with brood, more should be given. By this means 
a large quantity of young bees will be hatched out ready for honey-gathering, 
and by the time white clover blooms there will be plenty of active workers in 
the field to gather its yield of honey. Care must be taken not to give extra 
combs too fast, lest the young brood should get chilled. No more combs 
should be in the hive at any time than the bees can cover. The whole 
season's profit depends on the observance of these rules. In addition to these 
inside regulations, attention must be paid to the outside of the hive. When 
the weather is cold, and every night through early spring, the entrance must 
be closed so as only to admit one bee at a time. When the weather is warm, 
and every morning as the sun begins to mount up in the heavens, the entrance 
must be made larger. A little observation and practice will enable the bee- 
keeper to keep the inside temperature of the hive in that state of uniform 
warmth which is most conducive to the raising of brood. 

QUEEN REARING, AND ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 

" Get the stock from which you wish to raise queens as strong as possible, 
so that it will proceed to build queen cells. Now, from each one that is 
strong enough to spare it, take one comb with plenty of brood in it and make 
a nucleus, by using the division-board as above directed, and after from 
twenty-four to forty-eight hours, give them a queen or a cell from those which 
have been started by the extra strong colony already spoken of. In a few days 
the young queen Avill begin to lay, and brood should be taken from the parent 
stock sufficient to keep it just below the swarming-point. The most honey 
and the best results are obtained by keeping the bees just beloio the swarming- 
point, which is done by the judicious removal of brood with which to build 
up the young swarm. In this way, both will be boiling over with bees when 
the honey season is at its height. If they cannot otherwise be kept back from 
swarming, draw a comb from each of six or more hives, putting them with 
their bees all in one hive, which makes a strong stock by giving them a 
queen. In every apiary, there should be surplus queens on hand throughout 



BEES. 



991 



the working season, ready for such emergencies. Queen rearing can be carried 
on without building up, and one frame of comb answers for the queen to lay 
in, until it is convenient to add more. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 

" There are various methods of introducing queens. Whatever method is 
adopted, four things must be carefully attended to: 1. The hive must contain 
no queen or queen-cells. 2. The bees must be made to fill themselves with 
honey. Smoke will usually do this, but some bee-keepers also sprinkle them 
with liquid honey or syrup. 3. The queen must be pervaded by the same 
odor as the bees to which she is introduced. Some add to the syrup or honey 
sprinkled on them an essence, such as peppermint or the like. Others de- 




CAGE FOR SHIPPING OR INTRODUCING QUEENS. 

pend on smoke, using tobacco which must not be strong enough to stupefy 
them. 4. The queen must not be introduced hastily, or she will be treated 
as an intruder, and speedily killed. Covering the queen with honey or syrup 
when she is put among the bees is usually sufficient. By the time they have 
licked her clean, which they will at once proceed to do, they will be willing to 
accept her. Many use a cage for introducing queens. She is confined in this 
for a time, inside the hive, until the bees become used to her. Such a cage is 
also used for shipping queens to a distance. 

EXTRACTING COMB HONEY. 

"As soon as the brood chamber begins to get crowded with honey, which 
seldom occurs before white clover blooms, the extractor must be used. Quiet 
the bees with smoke, draw out the combs, shake and brush off the bees, carry 
the combs to the extracting-room (which may be a movable-box or tent), with 
honey-knife shave off the capping of the cells, extract the honey, return the 
combs to their places, close up the hive, and proceed in the same way with 




992 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

the next. In my apiary, I usually have a man or boy taking out frames, and 

brushing off the bees ; one or two boys 
carrying them to the extracting-room ; one 
uncapping, another extracting, and one put- 
ting back the frames as fast as they are 
HONEY-KNIFE. emptied. In this way all keeps moving 

along, and we can take thus from 1,000 to 
2,000 pounds of honey per day in the height of the season. 

TREATMENT OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 

" The honey is put into large tin tanks and open barrels, left to ripen 
from six to twelve days. It is then drawn off into tin cans holding 2J, 5 and 
10 pounds. The cans should be made with a bale and screw top, so as to be 
ready either for shipment or for sale in the original packages.- I sometimes 
ship in barrels. These should only hold 100 pounds, and must be coated 
inside with wax. 

COMB HONEY. 

"I take all my comb honey in sections. During the past season I have 
greatly increased the yield of comb honey by the use of a perforated zinc 
plate as a divider. The holes will admit the passage of worker bees, but not 
the queen, who can thus be confined within a limited space, her laying 
restricted to that space, and the whole worker force of the hive employed in 
filling the sections with comb honey. Should this plan continue to work well, 
it will add largely to the yield of comb honey. Section honey can be taken 
above the frames, and at the back part of the hive. Extracted honey can be 
fed back to the bees, and stored in sections. By the proper use of the 
extractor along with sections, more honey can be got, and stocks kept equally 
strong as on the old system. 

PREPARATION FOR WINTERING. 

"When the honey harvest is over, see that all stocks have young or still 
vigorous queens. Remove all failing queens, and replace with young and 
vigorous ones. Remove all surplus comb, and store it up for use another year. 
Crowd the bees into a compact form. If short of honey, feed them with 
pure granulated sugar syrup (2 pounds of sugar to 18 ounces water). As 
soon as the honey harvest shows signs of failure, feed the bees a little to keep 
up breeding, and, as soon as the first frost kills the flowers, feed liberally, until 
there is a sufficient store for winter ; then feed lightly to keep up breeding as 
late in the season as possible. Plenty of young bees are the best security for 
wintering well. If the bees are all old in the fall, they will die off before 
young ones are hatched out to take their places in the spring. 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 993 

WINTERING. 

"With good queens, plenty of young bees, and abundance of stores, bees 
are ready to go into winter quarters wlienever cold weather sets in. 
About thirty pounds of honey or sugar syruji will be required for out-door 
wintering, and about twenty for in-door wintering. If wintered out-of-doors, 
crowd the bees on to four or six frames, pack around them with chaff or 
saw-dust, and lay a good chaff cushion on top of the frames, leaving the 
entrance open. To winter in-doors, on a sunny day late in the fall, take off 
covers and cushions, remove all propolis-coated cloths, let the sun dry off the 
bees thoroughly, lay on clean cloths, cover with cushions, and carry into a bee- 
house or dry cellar. The bee-house should be built with hollow walls, having 
not less than twenty-one inches of space filled in with chaff, tan-bark, or 
saw-dust. When thus housed in a cellar or bee-house, keep in utter dark- 
ness and quiet, maintain a temperature from forty-two to forty-five degrees, 
and give your bees a good letting-alone until spring returns again. Those 
who winter out-of-doors in my double-hive, will not require to do any chaff- 
packing. All that is necessary is to crowd the bees up into small compass 
with the division board, and lay a thick chaff cushion on top of the frames." 



PAET XIL 

The Pog; 

HISTORY, BREEDS AKD CHAKACTEKISTIC8. 

63 

(995) 



THE DOG. 

HISTORY OF BREEDS AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Origin, of the dog — Usefulness of the dog to man — The English Setter — The Irish Setter — The 
Gordon Setter— The Native Setter— The Dropper— Tlie Pointer— The Spaniel— The New- 
foundland dog— The Mastiff— The Bull dog— The Blood hound— The Fox hound— The Beagle 
— The Sheep dog— The Greyhound — The Dalmatian or Coach dog — The Scotch Terrier — The 
English Terrier— The Skye Terrier— The Poodle. 

HISTORY AND BREEDS. 

In both the Old and New Testaments the dog is spoken of almost with 
abhorrence; everywhere it is designated unclean and an abomination, and yet 
man has no surer or more tried friend, ever on the guard to protect the prop- 
erty and person of his master. It appears to have been the great object of 
the Israelites to engender this hatred, in order to prevent the idolizing and 
worshipping of the dog as was practised by their neighbors and early masters, 
the Egyptians. 

Considerable dispute exists with regard to the origjn of the dog. Many 
naturalists trace him to the wolf, others to the jackal, and some to the Dingo 
and Pariah ; but no satisfactory conclusion has been arrived at. There is, 
however, but little doubt that the wolf and dog are varieties of the same 
family, as they can be crossed, and their offspring continuing the cross thus 
made will produce a race entirely different from the.original. A circumstance 
in favor of the common origin of the two quadrupeds is the existence in our 
own country of the prairie wolf, who whines and barks in a manner so similar 
to small dogs, that it is almost impossible to distinguish his voice from that of 
the terrier. 

Judging from the fact that almost every country has its wild dog or wolf, 
it may not be amiss to conclude that the many varieties of dog now existing 
have their common origin in either the one or the other, and which by adapta- 
tion to surrounding circumstances, and care in breeding, have attained their 
present high standard of excellence. 

In Northern India the wild dogs of Nepal hunt in packs; have an exquisite 
sense of smell ; give tongue after the manner of the hound, and show wonderful 
intelligence in the chase, and can be domesticated when caught at an early age. 

997 



998 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

In Southern India there exists a wild dog readily tamed, and many are to 
be seen in the possession of the natives of Dakhund. A wild breed termed the 
Pariah inhabit the lower ranges of the Himalaya Mountains. They likewise 
hunt in packs and seldom miss their prey. When trained by the inhabitants 
of this country they make useful companions of the chase, bringing the wild 
boar to bay, or indicating which course he has taken when disturbed. 

In Australia the settlers are much troubled by the Dingo or wild dog of the 
country. Many sheep are yearly worried to death, and the Dingo proving 
untamable is the greatest pest wherewith the herder has to deal. 




WOLF SEARCHING FOR FOOD. 



All wild dogs possess the erect pointed ear of the wolf he so much resembles 
in nature, the eye likewise is oblique or angular as in the fox and the wolf. 
Prof. Beel gives a very ingenious reason for the pupil of the eye of the dog 
being circular and not oblique. He attributes the forward direction of the 
dog's eye to the constant habit for many genisrations of looking towards his 
master and obeying his voice. 

USEFULNESS OF THE DOG TO MAN. 

While almost every other quadruped fears man as his formidable enemy, 
there is one who regards him as a companion, and follows him as a friend; he 
does it from choice, seems to be created for the very purpose, and is not happy 
unless in his service, asking but a trifle in return, and a kind word is all that 
he requires. His swiftness of foot, great strength, courage, intelligence, and 
highly developed power of smelling, have made him a powerful ally of man 
against the other animals, and he is the only one that has followed the human 
being all over the earth a willing slave. To the husbandman he is invaluable 
as a protector and aid in herding sheep, a useful companion of the chase, an 
exterminator of vermin, and guard to the house. 

It is not our purpose, in these chapters, to dwell upon those breeds that are 



THE DOG. 



not readily procured and ordinarily possessed by the farmer, or to relate of 
other than the leading varieties. We begin therefore with 

THE ENGLISH SETTEE. 

Authors disagree on the subject of the origin of the setter dog, but it is now 
very generally conceded he is either descended from the spaniel, or that both 
sprung from the same stock. Before the invention of gunpowder, at least 
prior to its use in fowling and shooting on the wing, the spaniel was taught to 
stop or set with his nose pointing in the direction of the bird, his acute 
sense of smell indicating the presence of the partridge. His attitude was one 
lying flat on his belly that he might not impede the drawing or throwing of a 
net over the covey or flock before him by the fowler. This act of setting has 
given the name to the dog supposed to be the improved spaniel. Since the im- 
provement of firearms, and since shooting on the wing is followed by sportsmen, 
setters almost universally stand erect in their points at game which admits of 
their close proximity as it lies endeavoring to avoid danger. The most famous 
strain of English setters is the Lavarack, which takes its name from its 
celebrated breeder, Mr. E. Lavarack, of Shropshire, England. The pedigree of 
this family of setters dates back to 1825, when Mr. Lavarack purchased old 
Ponto and Moll from the Rev. A. Harrison, of Carlisle, England, who had 
kept the strain pure for twenty-five years. From the fact that all Mr. 
Lavarack's dogs descended from Ponto and Moll, it would strike the reader 
that unless fresh blood was sought, his animals would be so inbred as to 
be worthless. But such is not the case. Mr. Lavarack declares all his dogs 
came directly from Ponto and INIoll without an outside cross, and so famous 
have they become that even at the present day they are. eagerly sought for, 
and fabulous prices are paid for them by breeders who are anxious to improve 
their own stock. Their sense of smell is wonderful, their speed in the field 
tremendous, and their natural desire for the chase so remarkable, that an 
introduction of this blood in other families is at once noticeable in the offspring. 
The Lavarack setter in color may be black, white and tan ; white mottled or 
flecked with black so as to produce a blue-gray appearance (from whence the 
term blue belton), orange and white, lemon and white, or orange or lemon 
ticked, termed orange or lemon belton. Mr. Lavarack's system of breeding has 
decreased the size of his dogs, and when purely bred are most difficult to raise. 
In the north of England there are very many strains of setters claiming to be 
fully as fine as the Lavarack ; this we doubt, but that of Mr. Purcell Llewellyn 
we must mention in particular as being quite as noted, if not superior in some 
respects to the Shropshire strain. Mr. Llewellyn having conceived the idea 
that Mr. Lavarack was breeding in and in to an excessive degree, crossed his 
noted Dan with a pure Lavarack bitch, and a sister to Dan with a pure Lavarack 
dog, and produced setters which have become famous in England and this 



1000 



IT^LUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



country, at first termed the field trial breed, but now taking the name of the 
Llewellyn setter. The setters known as the Graham and Corbet breeds ; those 
of the Earl of Tankville, Messrs. Water park, Bishop, Bay ley, Lort, Jones, 




Haekett and Maedona, are noted in England for their superiority, many of 
these gentlemen using the Lavarack blood in order to obtain that which they 
desired in a good field-dog. The English setter may be thus described : 



THE DOG. 1001 

1. The skull differs from that of the pointer in not having the squareness 
of the latter named, does not possess the occipital bone to so large an extent, is 
narrower between the eyes and has a smaller brow. 

2. The nose is long and broad, and has an average measurement of four 
inches from the inner corner of the eye to the end. Midway between the end 
and the root of nose there should be a dip or depression ; a straight one is 
admissible, but there must be no hump or rise. The nostrils should be well 
open, and in health moist, the color black or liver-colored, but there exists many 
a pink or flesh-colored nose, carried by a setter of fine scenting powers ; using 
a well-known saying in this connection, " a good horse may be of any color," 
the most preferable shades, however, are the first mentioned. 

3. The ears are shorter than those of the pointer, well set back and droop- 
ing towards the neck, and of finer texture, or " leather," as it is called ; the 
eyes full and rounded, and the best color brown or dark hazel. 

4. The neck of the setter is more slender than the pointer's, and set into 
the head without any prominence at the base of the skull. 

5. The shoulders sloping and elbows well down ; chest deep and roomy. 

6. Back-quarters and stifles. A curved loin is desirable, but not to such 
a degree as to present a sway back appearance, stifles bent well so that the 
after legs may be thrown well forward in running. 

7. Legs and elbows should be straight, with no inclination to turn in. The 
arms well boned and muscled with strong broad knees and short pasterns. 

8. The feet well clothed with hair between the toes, yet not too long so as 
to accumulate matter in wet and snowy weather. 

9. The tail should be slightly curved from root to tip, tapering to a fine 
point at the end and furnished with long silky hair, without a vestige of curl. 

10. The quality or texture of coat in the English setter is soft, silky and 
shining, without any tendency to curl, fringed on the hind legs as well as the 
fore. 

11. The English setter may be of any color. The following shades are in 
order the most fashionable : 

White with black mottles so as to appear blue ; first with tan marking on 
the cheeks and over the eyes, and second without it ; black, white and tan, 
black and white, orange and white, lemon and white, orange and lemon mottled, 
and lastly liver and white, and liver flecked. 

THE IRISH SETTER. 

This breed of setter is one of the oldest in Great Britain, deriving its name 
from the island where it originated. Yet it is now extensively bred in Eng- 
land, and has many admirers on account of its bold, dashing and untiring dis- 
position in the field. It is rather more difficult to break than the English 



1002 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

setter, and requires constant use to keep in hunting trim. It differs from the 
English dog as follows : 

1. The head is longer and more narrow, and the occipital bone almost as 
prominent as that of the pointer. 

2. The nose is longer and square at the end, of a deep mahogany or flesh 
color. 

3. Eyes and ears. The eyes should be dark brown ; ears long enough to 
almost reach the end of the nose, and more tapering than the English dog's, 
yet never pointed, and well set back. 

5, 6. The Irish setter stands higher than the English ; his elbows, notwith- 
standing, well let down ; his shoulders long, brisket deep and narrow, and his 
ribs not so long as those of his cousin. Loin slightly curved, strongly fastened 
to his hips, but not wide, sloping quarters, and tail set on low but straight, 
finely tapered and carried with boldness. 

7. Legs straight as an arrow ; hocks good ; bent stifles, and strong but not 
too heavy haunches. 

8. Feet harelike, not as hairy as the English setter between the toes. 

9. The tail ornamented with a long comb of hair, not bushy or heavy ; no 
curl. 

The coat of the Irish setter is coarser than that of the English dog, wavy, 
but not curly, and by no means long ; hind legs and fore legs well fringed, 
but not heavily, the ears covered with feather, with a tendency to wave but 
not curl. 

12. The color is a rich, dark red, without the least trace or tinge of black 
either on the head or back. A speck of white on the neck, breast or toes is 
admissible; not too much, however, is seen in good strains. 

In the field the Irish setter is most energetic, never tiring. His nose by 
some is considered not quite so delicate as the English dog's. He is fast and 
stylish in his movements, and has many admirers who prefer him for single 
work. The La Touche, Hutchinson's, and the Knight of Kerry's strains are 
most noted in England. 

Plunket, a celebrated Irish setter dog, combining the La Touche, Hutchin- 
son and Hon. D. Plunket's breeds, is now owned in this country. 

THE BLACK-TAN OR GORDON SETTER. 

The black-tan or Gordon setter derives its name from the fact that the 
Dukes of Gordon, in Scotland, bred and for a long time owned setters of this 
color. The breed has never attained great notoriety in the field, being without 
doubt deficient in nose when compared with the English and Irish setters, and 
not having the intelligence of either. The Gordon is apt to be gun-shy, stub- 
born or mulish. Many writers suspect a dash of the colly or sheep dog blood 
present in the breed, and charge his color to this cause. Others declare it to 



THE DOG. 1003 

have been brought about by u cross of the hound at some remote period. Cer- 
tain it is, the Gordon setter is fond of hunting the rabbit ; in fact, always shows 
a liking for hair. With all his beauty he is not a favorite with the experienced 
sportsman in England or the United States. 

The points of the Gordon setter are very nearly the same as those of the 
English dog, excepting the following numbers : 

1. The head is heavier. 

2. The nose is wider. 

9. The "flag" is shorter. 

11. The coat is harsher than either the English or Irish setter, and some- 
times curled. 

12. The color is important; the black should be deep with a plum shade in 
some lights and without tan hairs; the tan of a red shade, and not fawn-like 
in color. Gordon setters were originally very often black, tan and white, but 
of late years only a little v/hite is allowed, and this must be on the neck, 
chest, or on the toes, in this class at dog shows. The tan should show on the 
lips, cheeks, throat, over the eyes, on the fore legs to the elbows, on the hind 
legs to the stifles, and under the tail, stoi3ping short when coming to the black, 

' the line of color being well defined. 

The most noted strains of Gordon setters are those bred by Messrs. Coaths 
and Barclay Field in England. 

THE NATIVE SETTER. 

Very little need be said of the native setter, as he is a direct descendant of 
both the English and Irish dog, or in other words a cross or admixture of 
many families of both. So great has been this admixture and we are sorry to 
say pointer blood is many times a part, that our own dog, speaking in general 
terms, has few characteristics to particularize him. No system has been 
followed until late years in the breeding of the setter in America, but lovers 
of this dog are now endeavoring to reach the English standard of excellence in 
using the blood of the Lavarack, Llewellyn and Macdona, for this purpose. 
It is astonishing when we observe the carelessness with which breeders of the 
United States have made their choice of sire and dam, that we are able to find 
so many good field- dogs of American l)reeding. In Delaware, Maryland and 
Virginia, setters of good quality and fine field performance are often come 
•icross, but in comparison with tlie English dog, they are coarse and 
lunibersume. No description is needed for the native setter; that of the first 
described will answer every purpose. 

THE DROPPER. 

The dropper is a cross between the setter and the pointer, sometimes t>os- 



1004 n.LUSTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

sessing the long silky hair and feather of the former, and not nnfrequently the 
short satin-like coat of the latter, but often times having a texture between the 
two. It is an error to suppose by breeding the setter and pointer together one 
ean obtain the good qualities of either or both. By unions of this nature it 
is seldom a good animal is obtained, yet it is true the offspring may sometimes 
turn out fair field-dogs, but their dispositions are never such as are desired, 
they are cross and sullen, and if good workers on game, headstrong, self-willed 
and unable to transmit such good traits as they may possibly have to their 
progeny, whether bred to either a pure setter or pointer. The majority of 
native setters owe their poor quality to introduction of pointer blood ; but of 
late years we are glad to be able to say our sportsmen and breeders are opposed 
to the cross, and the dropper is not looked upon with favor. We cannot see 
why it is when such fine specimens of each race can be so readily obtained in 
all purity, that the abominable admixture is ever indulged in. A description 
of the dropper is not needed. 

THE POINTER. 

The modern pointer is descended from the Spanish dog of this name, intro- 
duced into England nearly three centuries ago, and is so improved by judicious 
crosses, that the heavy, slow and awkward appearance of the latter is now 
entirely lost, and we have instead a quick, active and invaluable dog for field 
work. The pointer finds and points his game similar to the setter, erect and 
rigid, his short hair enabling him to hunt on the prairies where water is scarce 
and to continue without this necessity for a much longer time. In New Jersey, 
Delaware and Maryland, and in countries where the quail invariably takes to 
briery thickets when flushed, the pointer is at a disadvantage, and in cold and 
rainy weather he suffers greatly on account of his short coat. Never- 
theless we have seen them so highly strung and ambitious as to work wher- 
ever desired at a risk of injury to themselves. The modern pointer has been 
brought to its present state of perfection by crosses of the fox hound to give 
him additional speed and nose. He differs greatly from the setter in being 
furnished with a close, compact, short and fine coat of hair lying close to his 
skin ; the better he is bred the more satin-like it becomes. 

The pointer also differs from the setter as follows : 

Head moderately large ; wide in proportion to its length, with high fore- 
head. Eye of medium size, muzzle broad with square outline not receding 
as in the hound ; " flews " not very pendent ; ears not set back so far as the 
setter's, also more roimded and less drooping. 

The head should be set well on the neck with that peculiar rise at the base 
where it is joined, only seen in the pointer. The neck should not be too 
wrinkled or have too much loose skin visible under it, which gives the dog a 
* throaty " appearance as it is called. The body of good length, strong loins. 



THE DOG. 



100& 




1006 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

and hips, and arched ribs, chest low and not sharp as in the greyhound ; the 
tail is strong at the root and quickly diminishing becomes fine, and then tapers 
to a sharp point at the end ; a thick and chubby tail shows want of breeding. 
The shoulders are points of importance, and must be muscular and united 
to a large upper arm. The elbow should be well let down, and the fore arm 
short. The leg of the pointer must have good bone muscle and tendon, a 
strong knee, a round foot well protected with a thick sole. Stifles well bent, 
large hocks, and the hind feet of the same character as the fore feet. The 
color always mainly white, the more the better if liver or lemon markings 
are present. White with black, liver, yellow, or lemon-colored heads are most 
prized, although solid shades are quite common, especially the liver. Some 
pointers have tan markings on the cheek and over the eye, but this is considered 
as indicating too much fox hound blood. 

The pointers of Germany and France are inferior, being coarser than the 
modern English setter ; a few reach this country. 

THE SPANIELS. 

Under this heading we shall only place 
and describe the Clumber, Sussex, Cocker 
and w^ater spaniels as counterdistinguished 
from the toy spaniels. The Clumber and 
Sussex are seldom met with in this country; 
the former is even rare in his own. The 
cocker being of so many varieties, and 
differing so in appearance, it will be difficult 
to give a minute description of him. He 

THE HUNTING SPANIEL. . ., . i? j.i /• i 

is the most common oi the lour, however, 
in the United States, and the best known. 

He is used to find and flush his game to the gun, never pointing at, but 
indicating its near presence by low whimpering at first and by short quick 
barks when it is on the wing; for this reason it is trained to work within 
twenty-five yards of the shooter that the bird may not be put up out of gun- 
shot. 

In general he is a light, active dog, of 14 to 20 pounds, of a very lively 
and spirited nature. He hunts rapidly and carries his tail down, working it 
vigorously all the time. The eye is medium in size, body fairly long, and his 
shape much resembling the setter. He is clothed with a soft, wavy coat of 
hair, not curly, as it would then indicate water spaniel blood; the cocker is 
well feathered. The colors are solid liver, black, black and tan, white and 
black, white and liver, white and red, white and lemon. He is higher on the 
leg than the Clumber or Sussex in proportion to his size, and very much more 
iictive. It has been the custom for a long time to cut off nearly one-half of 




THE DOG. 1007 

the tail of the cocker spaniel that it might not be worn sore by constant motioa 
in the thickets while hunting. 

THE CLUMBER SPANIEL 

Is a long, low, and heavy clog for his size, weighing 30 to 40 pounds. The- 
head is heavy, much resembling the setter, but more angular. Body very long 
and strong, clothed with wavy hair not too thick. Tail bushy, but not woolly. 
Shoulders wide apart, arms short but strong, elbows not well let down, plenty 
of bone. Colors always yellow and white, or lemon and white. In motion 
the Clumber spaniel is slow and deliberate; he has the most exquisite scenting 
powers, trailing and flushing his game with unerring certainty, working mute,, 
and gives no notice that the bird is on the wing. 

THE SUSSEX SPANIEL 

Differs from the Clumber in shape and color. In height and weight they 
are much alike, and also in general character of head. In length, however, 
he is not as remarkable, yet 'he may be called a long dog also. He stands- 
higlier in the legs than the Clumber, but not so high as the cocker. 

The coat is nearly the same in texture, being soft and silky and free from 
curl. The head is not quite so heavy. The color liver. Legs and feet strong 
and well feathered. Tail cropped as with the Clumber and cocker. The- 
Sussex spaniel indicates by voice the rise of the game he has been trailing. 

THE WATER SPANIEL. 

Head long and narrow, eyes small, ears of medium length covered witb 
crimpy^ curly hair. Body stout, loins strong, and round chest, broad across- 
the shoulders. Feet large and spreading. His body is clothed with very 
curly hair. Tail curved. The water spaniel, as his name would indicate, is 
much used as a retriever for duck-shooting, especially that of marsh, upland, 
or fresh water fowl. He is often crossed with the larger variety of cocker. 

THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. 

There are two varieties of the Newfoundland dog met with in this country. 
1st, The large long-haired variety, called the large Labrador. 2d, The small 
compact, comparatively short-haired dog known as the St. John. Both were 
originally natives of Newfoundland, and are alike good water dogs, and can 
remain immersed a long time; but the large variety possessing a more woolly 
coat is hardier. The characteristic points of the large Newfoundland are great 
size, say from 25 to 30 inches high, form strong and stout. The head not 
large in comparison to its size ; wide across the eyes. Muzzle of moderate 
length, wide, and without " flews," as in the hound. Eye and ear small, neck 



1008 



ILT^USTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



short, clothed with a ruff of hair; tail curled. Coat long, shaggy, and 
shining, without very much admixture of wool. The color should be black, 
though sometimes it is black and white, or white with a little black or liver 
color or reddish dun. 




The St. Johns, or smaller Newfoundland, is seldom more than 25 inches 
high. The head is larger in proportion to his size, and tlie ear fuller, neck 
longer, body far more compact and clothed with shorter hair. In color he is 



THE DOG. 



1009 



always jet black. As a watch dog the Newfoundland is valuable, becoming 
much attached to his owner and home, but as frequent bathing is indispensable 
to his health he is not a desirable animal for the farmer unless a good 
stream or pond is in close proximity. 

THE MASTIFF. 

The mastiff is a command- 
ing and powerful animal in 
every respect, and although 
possessed of high courage, his 
temper can be more relied upon 
than any of the large dogs. 
He makes an admirable yard 
dog, and will protect his mas- 
ter's property with zealous 
vigilance. In England he has 
been known for many years, 
and old works give cuts of 
this breed scarcely changed in 
characteristics from the mod- 
ern animal. He is doubtless 
indigenous to Great Britain. 
The Cuban mastiff is much 
like the English dog, but 
shows that he has been crossed 
with the bloodhound. The 

points of the mastiff are: A large head, partaking of the shape of the blood- 
hound and bull-dog, with great muscle, and having, to a great extent, the 
hanging upper lips of the hound ; ear small, drooping somewhat ; eye small. 
In shape he resembles the hound, but is much more compact and with more 
bone. Loin well knit and strong, limbs powerful, tail rough and carried over 
the back. Tone of voice loud and deep, coat smooth, color red or fawn, with 
dark, or what is preferred black, muzzle, or brindled or black, or black, red, 
or fawn and white ; height, 30 .to 34 inches. 

The Mount St. Bernard dog is closely allied to the mastiff, but has the ap- 
pearance of having Newfoundland blood in his veins, with the nature and 
desire to fetch and carry of the latter. This dog is used by the monks on the 
Alps to rescue snow-bound travelers. 

THE BULL DOG. 

The bull dog is one of the oldest known breeds native to Great Britain, and 
has always been described as idiotic in his ferocity. This is a mistaken idea. 




THE MASTIFF. 



1010 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




MOUNT ST. BERNAKD DOGS. 



for he IS not at all quarrelsome when purely bred. The bull mastiff, however, 
a cross of this dog, and also the bull terriei*, are pugnacious in the extreme, 
and excel in this respect owing to their training. The bull dog undoubtedly 




THE BULL DOG. 



THE DOG. lOlJ 

has been used as a cross merely to obtain his very muscular and compact frame, 
and not for a disposition to combat. The points of a well-bred bull dog are as 
follows: Head round, skull high, eye of moderate size and forehead deeply 
sunk between them, ears partly erect and diminutive, growing from the top 
of the head and close together ; nose short, and having good chops ; back short, 
somewhat arched towards the tail, which in well-bred specimens is fine and of 
medium length. The coat is always fine, the chest deep and broad, legs mus- 
cular with good bone, and the foot hare like. The bull terrier, as his name 
would indicate, is a cross of the English terrier and bull dog, and has the 
muscular frame of the last combined with the activity of the former. Having 
been almost exclusively used and trained for fighting purposes, this breed of 
dog by such cultivation has become irascible to a high degree, and is now 
most noted for his pugnacity. 

THE BLOODHOUND 

Derives his name from the power he possesses of following the scent of 
wounded animals, and to single out from a number of deer one that has been 
crippled and hurt, and to stick to his trail until run down. The true blood- 
hound, as he was bred years ago, does not now exist in Great Britain. The 
breed is doubtless extinct; but in Cuba and in the Southern States a dog less 
pure is" used for hunting the deer and following runaway negroes, much resem- 
bling the old English bloodhound, and is still plentiful. 

The following are the points of this dog. Height 24 to 26 inches, long and 
narrow head, ears 7 to 10 inches, lips low hanging, throat pendulous with 
plenty of skin. Deep brisket, body round, broad loins, stout legs, straight feet 
and powerful thighs, tail fine and tapering. 

Color black and tan, red or fawn. No white should be seen except on the 
tip of the tail. 

The texture of the bloodhound's coat should be coarser than that of the 
pointer's, yet smooth and glossy. His voice low and deep, with much melody. 
Disposition very courageous, yet kind and gentle. 

THE FOX HOUND 

Differs from the bloodhound in being not quite so tall. Height should be 20 
to 24 inches. Head smaller and fuller in comparison, lips low, hanging, but 
with not quite so much " flew," less loose skin about the neck, or less " throaty " 
an appearance. Legs more curved, and shoulders more oblique and better 
formed for speed. The ears of the fox hound in England are always cropped 
or rounded off at the ends ; if allowed to grow, as they are in this country, they 
would be low and hanging. The fox hound, otherwise than the above differ- 
ences, resembles the bloodhound. Those met with in the United States seem 

to have been crossed with the bloodhound of the Southern States, and show 
64 



1012 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



many of his characteristics. In fact, so diverse are the different strains in 
America that the dog might be called another breed than the English. The 
cjoat of the fox hound is close, and likewise not so short as that of the pointer's ; 




he carries his tail high as he runs, and it is oftener fringed with longer hairs 
approaching a feather. Colors: 1st. Black, white and tan j 2d. Pied, as red 



THE DOG. 1013 

pie, blue pie or yellow pie, gray pie, lemon pie; 3d. Black ; 4th. White ; 5th. 
Red; 6th. Blue. 

He trails quickly, and is speedy and of great bottom, and in this country 
frequently used for rabbit hunting. 

THE BEAGLE. 

The beagle hound of a century back has been almost entirely displaced by 
the dwarf fox hound, or a cross of the small beagle with the fox hound and 
harrier. In this country they are found of many sizes, and may be styled the 
dwarf medium, and the large beagle. He can be appropriately termed a 
pocket edition of the fox hound, and resembles him very much in appearance. 

He is used almost exclusively for rabbit hunting, trailing at a moderate 
pace with a true nose and musical voice. The dwarf beagle is now scarce even 
in England, and should measure not higher than 9 to 16 inches. The medium 
beagle measures 12 to 20 inches high, and the description given can be taken 
as a type of all. Head wide and round, short nose, drooping and full ears, 
body that of a diminutive fox hound, and color of the same shades. 

THE SHEEP DOG. 

The English sheep dog is found of many varieties, and so different are they, 
that we can only dwell upon the main characteristics of the leading one. He 
has a sharp nose, medium size head, small eyes, and well-shaped body covered 
with thick and almost woolly hair, growing full and strong about the neck 
and breast. Tail long and bushy ; legs strong, and feet protected with hair 
for work on stony roads and hills. Sheep dogs are always found with dew- 
claws. Color grey, or black, or brown, with more or less white. Weight 
about 50 to 60 pounds. 

The colly, or Scotch sheep dog, has a broader head, which gives his nozzle 
a sharper appearance than the English dog. His eye is likewise small, but 
his ear is slightly more pricked as a rule. His tail is l(hig and bushy, and 
his form a little stouter than the English shepherd dog's. Color always black 
and tan with little white. 

THE GREYHOUND. 

This dog has also been known in Great Britain for many generations, and 
has always been used for coursing the hare, or in other words to run down his 
game by sight. His head is very long and narrow, neck slender and duck- 
like, as it is called, back strong, tail long and ratlike, gradually turning up- 
ward as it begins to taper, hind quarters greatly curved, and shoulders oblique, 
showing great fleetness. A good measurement for the greyhound would be 
as follows : circumference of head between the eyes 14 to 15 inches, length of 
neck 10 inches, circumference of chest 28 to 30 inches, length of arm 9 inches. 



1014 ILLITHTKATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

length of knee to the ground 4| inches, circumference of loin 18 to 19 inches, 
length of upper thigh 10| inches, lower thigh 11 inches, leg from hock to 
ground 5J to 6 inches. Color black, blue, red, fawn, brindled and white. 
Coat short, fine and glossy. 

The Albanian greyhound resembles the English in form, and like him in 
every particular excepting that he has long and silky hair. 

The Persian greyhound is coated like the setter, and the rough Scotch grey- 
hound, or deer hound, is also in every way formed like his English brother, 
but clothed with rough shaggy hair, and uses his nose to trail his game, while 
almost all the other greyhounds hunt entirely by sight. 

THE DALMATIAN OR COACH DOG 

Stands about 24 to 25 inches, and very much resem- 
bles the pointer in form and texture of coat, but is 
different in color, being beautifully marked with 
numerous small black spots on a white ground. He is 
fond of horses, makes his home in the stable, and is 
never tired of following the carriage. 




DALMATIAN DOG. 



THE ENGLISH TERRIER 

Is a smoothly-coated animal weighing 6 to 10 pounds. We are now speak- 
ing of the useful dog of this breed, and not the diminutive toys that weigh as 
little as 3 to 4 pounds. His nose is long and tapering, eye bright and liquid, 
ears well set on, and when not trimmed are slightly raised, turning over at the 
tips. High forehead, flat skull, and strong jaw; neck strong, body well 
shaped, loins powerful for his size, chest deep and not too wide ; shoulders free 
and very powerful to enable him to dig well ; fore legs strong and straight, 
bone light ; tail fine and tapering ; color black and tan. 

THE SCOTCH TERRIER 

Closely resembles the English in all but his coat, which is rough and wire- 
like. His habits are the same, being a great vermin dog. He is found ia 
color black and tan and sometimes gray. The skye terrier in some respects is 
like the Scotch, but difi'ers from him in having a long, weasel-like body, short 
legs, long wide head, long neck, bandy forelegs, and long straight hair parted 
down the back and falling over his sides, coarse in texture, but on the legs 
silky. 

There are two varieties of the skye terrier, one smaller than the other, with 
the coat entirely soft, and the one we have first described. A very favorite 
cross is made between the large skye terrier and the Dandle Dinmont, which 
partakes of the nature and form of both. 



THE DOG. 



1015 



The Dandie Dinmont terrier is supposed to be a cross between the Scotch 
terrier and the otter hound. He has two shades of hair, one brown called 
mustard, the other blue-gray called pepper. He has silky hair on the head, 
legs short, body long, low shoulders, paws long, and muzzle tapered, ears large 
and hanging, tail curved up hound-like, and weighs 18 to 24 pounds. 

THE POODLE 

Has been known in France, Germany, and England for many years. He 
is notably intelligent and most easily taught, and is fond of the water. In 
England he was formerly used for retrieving in duck-shooting. He has a 
large wide head, small eyes, square muzzle, pointer-like body, and covered with 
very curly close hair, hanging down at some parts in ringlets. His height is 
16 to 20 inches. The Barbet, a variety of small poodle, is a native of France 
seldom seen here. 




WATER SPANIKL. 



CHAPTER II. 

Choice of Sire and Dam in Breeding— Age to Breed— Time of Year to Breed— Management of 
Bitch in Season— Duration of Heat— Management of Bitch in Whelp— Whelping— Care of 
Whelps— Weaning — Feeding — Training of Pointers and Setters — Training of Spaniels — Train- 
ing of Hounds — Training of Vermin Dogs— To Prevent and to Break from Gun Shyness — 
Hunting a Bitch wtile in Whelp. 

CHOICE OF SIRE AND DAM. 

It is of great importance that the breeder should choose good specimens of 
both sire and dam of the breed he intends giving his attention to. If setter 
or pointer, selecting a dog that possesses the qualities or traits that are wanting 
in the bitch, and which he desires to intensify in the offspring. For instance, 
if the dam is of a timid nature, but otherwise having no great faults, she 
should be served by a bold, courageous sire ; or, if the dog is not as speedy as 
is wanted, the dam must be the opposite. Select always such animals whose 
breeding is assured, and have proven pedigrees if possible. Breeding in and 
in is generally very beneficial, and tends to stamp any particular family trait 
more indelibly in the offspring, but it can be carried to an injurious extent, 
and a point will be reached when fresh blood must be sought, which being 
obtained we may go back to original strain again. It is held by some that the 
first impregnation has an effect upon subsequent litters by different sires. It 
is necessary, therefore, to be careful in the selection of the cross that it will 
not neutralize the original impregnation or in like manner be neutralized by 
it. Like produces like in breeding, so in proportion to the purity of the breed 
will be the qualities transmitted to the whelps. 

AGE TO BREED. 

Most bitches are of an age to breed before they are a year old ; but it is 
advisable to wait until the appearance of the second heat, and allow the first 
to pass without giving her the dog. At one year old small dogs can be per- 
mitted to breed, for at that age they will have reached the period of the second 
heat. Setters and pointers at 15 to 18 months are perfectly matured and in 
proper development, but the mastiff and other large dogs, not attaining their 
full growth until they are two years old, must not be bred until that age. 

TIME OP YEAR TO BREED. 

Spring and fall, if not too early in the first and too late in the last season, 
1016 



THE DOG. 1017 

are the best times of the year to allow dogs to breed. If puppies are whelped 
in the spring they have ample time to grow and be able to stand extreme hot 
weather, and if in the fall they will have attained a size which will enable 
them to better endure the winter's cold. The majority of bitches come in sea- 
son some time in the spring or summer ; by allowing a summer " period " to 
pass without serving, the next will very probably come around during the spring 
following, when the dog can be allowed. The bitch after this serving will be 
likely to be regular in the heats. 

MANAGEMENT OF THE BITCH IN SEASON. 

Bitches, when in season, should be confined so that no dog but the one 
chosen may come to her. This frequently causes ill-health, and will have an 
effect upon the whelps unless regular exercise is given (on the chain if neces- 
sary), until the period has passed. 

DURATION OF HEAT. 

A bitch is in heat about three weeks ; the first week she scarcely ever will- 
ingly accepts the dog, and at this time bleeds from the vulva. Not until this 
bleeding has subsided should she be lined, and then no time should be lost as 
desire now soon begins to pass away, and continues gradually to do so for the 
balance of the twenty-one days. It is a mistaken idea that the sex of the 
whelps can be regulated, by the time of the heat the dog is allowed to go to 
the bitch. There is no sure rule to follow. 

MANAGEMENT OF BITCH IN WHELP. 

A bitch from the time she conceives will run from sixty-three to sixty-five 
days before she gives birth to her litter. As soon as it is discovered that she 
is in whelp the exercise begun as directed should be kept up and rather in- 
creased daily. Her food now should be soft, yet nutritious, and easily digested, 
such as thickened soups, oatmeal and boiled milk ; oatmeal with lean meat, 
minced finely, mixed with it. Care being observed that her bowels be kept 
open. If costiveness shows itself a dose of castor oil or salts may be given. 

WHELPING. 

As soon as the day for whelping arrives, a quiet, clean and comfortable place 
should be provided for the bitch, and she should be left entirely alone, nature 
being her best assistant, unless something wrong takes place or malformation 
shows itself. While in labor and between the throes (it may be she will be 
the whole day in whelping) no food is required. She must be kept as quiet as 
possible. Some nervous bitches are apt to devour their puppies if disturbed 
at this time. After all is completed a luke-warm gruel of half milk and half 



1018 



IJ.l.USTKATEU STOCK DOCTOR. 



water may be given the mother. Nothing cold should be placed before her^ 
It the arst thirty-six hours the bitch will of herself leave the whelps to 
fmpty herself; from this time stronger an<l more nutritious food can be given, 




abundant milk allowed, and the most nutritions diet provided to aid her rais- 
'"^^Trn:: tt continued, which the mother will be glad to accept 



THE DOG. 1019 

in about two weeks after the birth of her puppies, that she may have an hour 
or two of rest daily from their growing demands and sprouting teeth. She 
may be allowed to go free. 

CARE OF WHELPS. 

The puppies should be carefully examined for lice and other parasites as 
soon as the bitch will allow you to handle them. If any are discovered the 
whelps should be washed with a lukewarm decoction of Quassia chips or 
Persian insect powder carefully rubbed into their coat. The bed or nest must 
now be changed, new hay or straw being furnished and sprinkled with the 
insect powder. Nothing troubles and takes away from the growth of puppies 
more than lice and fleas. Their quarters must be roomy that they may be 
able to run about and romp with one another, and thus develop healthy bone 
and muscle. At about three to four weeks they may be taught to lap one- 
third water and two-thirds cow's milk preparatory to weaning. 

WEANING AND FEEDING. 

At five or six weeks the puppies may be safely weaned. They have already 
learned to lap. Stronger food can now be furnished, the milk given pure, 
mixed with crumbled bread, or «;e/^-boiled oatmeal. Feeding time should be 
regular and at stated hours three times a day, and the dish, trough or vessel 
containing the food taken away as soon as the youngsters have filled them- 
selves. After a time food twice a day will be sufiicient; say morning and 
night. As the puppies become larger a bone containing some meat may be 
given them ; too much flesh is injurious. A sheep's head thoroughly boiled is 
capital now and then for them to pick at. It is of the greatest importance that 
the whole litter should be allowed abundance of exercise, and liberty be given 
them at stated times during the day. Pups deprived of exercise are apt to 
have the rickets or enlarged joints, or be out at the elbows. 

TRAINING OF POINTERS AND SETTERS. 

In choosing a puppy from a litter of well-bred setters or pointers it becomes 
a difficult task which to determine upon. If possible wait until they have 
attained the age of four or five months, by which time they have become 
somewhat developed. Sit down where you can see them all together, and 
notice which is the most active and intelligent. The overgrown mother's pet, 
generally the strongest of all, is frequently lazy, and sleepy, and shows but 
half the spryness of his smaller brother or sister. Select a puppy with a good 
brain development, such a characteristic holds good with the canine as well as 
the human race. We have never seen a bad dog with a good head and 
face. 



1020 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Having decided upon a young setter take him to yourself, and when he ia 




SIX or 



seven months old, eight will do, begin his primary tuition. Allow 



no 



THE DOG. 1021 

one to feed him, attend to this yourself, accustom him to your voice and 
manner, let him follow you on all your walks, and it will soon be noticeable 
how devoted he will become to you. The dog has a mission to fulfil on earth, 
that of serving his master, and as soon as he fully understands what is wanted 
of him it becomes his happiness to serve his owner ; therefore study his dis- 
position and assist him in learning his duty. Never flog cruelly and only 
when you are positive your dog has committed a wilful fault ; then be merciful, 
for many are ruined in spirit by harsh treatment. 

Most well-bred puppies will point from natural instinct and take to hunting 
without tuition, but it is absolutely necessary to impress on your young dog, 
before taking him into the field, the necessity of prompt and strict obedience, 
and for this reason begin at home with the check cord at an early age. 
Provide yourself with some morsels of food, and take your scholar into a room 
or yard where there will be no one to interfere with the lessons. Fasten a 
cord four or five yards in lengtli to his collar, and throw a piece of food where 
he can see it fall ; he will naturally rush for it ; allow him to do so, but as he 
nears it, jerk the cord and hold him, saying, " Ho," or " Toho " in a com- 
manding tone. Practise him in this manner for an hour each day until he 
will stop over the morsel at the command " Toho," without the jerking of the 
cord. All this will be found a little difficult, but by patience it can be 
accomplished. Never let your temper get the better of you, but be cool, 
determined and persistent. Care should be taken not to alarm your scholar in 
these lessons, especially if he be of a timid nature ; an intelligent dog though 
will learn very soon, and retain all you impart as he understands what is 
required of him. He should be taught that an uplifted hand is equivalent to 
an order to drop or charge. After thoroughly schooling your young dog 
indoors or in a yard, and when you are satisfied he is well practised in his 
lessons, take him into a field with a long cord attached to his collar, say fifteen 
or eighteen yards, and have one end of it fastened to a stake, which drive 
firmly into the ground. Begin again as you did indoors, making him hunt 
out the morsel of food and checking him with the cord and " Toho." You 
can now begin with snapping a cap on your gun at the moment you jerk him, 
then using a little powder and increasing the charge until he finally accepts the 
report as a command to drop. While he is down walk away from him, make 
him stay there until allowed to rise, then run from him; he may start 
after you, but the stake will stop him when he comes to the end of the cord, 
at which time cry " Toho," the moment he is checked. Now walk around 
him, now from him, again insisting on his being obedient. All this will tend 
to make your dog steady at the " charge." To teach your dog to return is not 
an easy task. This idea of fetching should be imparted when the puppy is 
quite young, giving him a taste for it by throwing an old glove from you and 
having him run after it, until as we have said before he brings it back for 



1022 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 




THE SHEPHERD'S DOG. 



another play. From the start in these lessons always repeat the word " fetch," 
which although not understood at first is eventually associated with the act 
and its meaning remembered. We will now suppose your dog is perfectly 
under command, and that by patience, perseverance and kindness you have 
yard-broken him. 

It may be three or four 
months before you have broken 
your young dog perfectly in- 
doors, and practised him like- 
wise in some open field. It is 
now time to prepare him for 
real work. If it can be done, 
select a country where game is 
plentiful, and have a friend 
accompany you with an old 
tried pointer or setter. When 
you have reached your shooting 
grounds, attach a strong cord 
to your dog's collar, such as is 
called a loom cord well twisted 
about the diameter of a pencil, and fifteen or sixteen yards long; allow 
him to range with it trailing after him ; the cord will not tangle or foul as 
would be supposed. Naturally the old dog will find the first covey of quail, 
and your pupil will notice the point, and if he is well bred will back ; if he 
does not and is anxious to move forward to the old dog, step on the end 
of the cord and hold him, saying "Toho" or "Ho," which he should be 
familiar with by this time. Your companion must now start the covey and kill 
a bird, and his dog should charge or drop at once, while you must check your 
own dog to drop also. Allow the old dog to retrieve, and let the young dog 
see him bring it, which when he has several times observed he may be allowed 
to do also, having been taught indoors to fetch as described. Continue thus 
throughout the day for several days. Too much hunting cannot be given your 
youngster the first season. It would be a good plan to take your puppy out 
alone during your trip and urge him to find birds on his own account, for fear 
he may be satisfied to play second fiddle ; very frequently young dogs when 
worked too much with more experienced animals, learn to be satisfied to back 
the other pointer only. 

Do not remove the check cord until he thoroughly knows his business and 
is entirely under your control. The cord is far better than the whip. 

TRAINING OP SPANIELS. 

Spaniels do not point their game ; all that is required of them in train- 



THE DOG. 



1023 



ing is steadiness, obedience, to drop 
or down charge, to work close to the 
shooter, and to retrieve. Therefore, 
in breaking, the same rules may be 
observed as those in the education of 
the pointer and setter, excepting that 
portion which relates to pointing. 
Spaniels learn retrieving very read- 
ily, more so than any dog, save the 
poodle. Their training may be 
begun at an earlier age than that of 
the pointer or setter. 




ENGLISH BliOODHOUND. 



TRAINING OF HOUNDS. 

All that is necessary in training hounds is to accustom them to the sound 
of the horn, to break up any riot in behavior, and to have them obey their 
master. Young hounds will take to trailing naturally when in company with 
older dogs. Experience is their best teacher. Beagles are taught that the 
report of the gun is a call for them to come in. 

TRAINING OF VERMIN DOGS, 

Care should be observed not to allow terriers to attack vermin when they 
are very young, which they will do if allowed, unless they are protected from 
injury. A good plan to follow is to remove the teeth of a rat and allow the 
puppy to worry it, or, what is better, give him a mouse for his first victim to 
kill. A full-grown rat will sometimes so punish a puppy as to render him 
fearful ever afterwards. Terriers hunt vermin at an early age, and no training 
is needed. When wanted for rabbit-hunting, and they are useful for this sport, 
they soon learn from the beagle, with which they may be allowed to run. 

TO PREVENT AND TO BREAK FROM GUN-SHYNESS. 

It is discouraging to the sportsman to find his dog, notwithstanding he may 
be purely bred, to be gun-shy, or afraid of the report of firearms. To avoid 
all such danger, especially if the animal shows himself to be of a nervous 
nature, he should never be fed unless a pistol was first fired off, beginning with 
light charges and increasing the loads when he began to associate the report 
with the pleasure of satisfying his hunger. Then when we are ready to begin 
to train, the sight of a gun, and the noise made thereby, can be borne. 

A grown dog can be in the same manner corrected of shyness by keeping 
him with a keen appetite for his meals, and striving to show him that the gun 
will not injure him, and to associate its report with a pleasure at feeding time. 
He should be so fed as to be ravenous when the hour for his meals approaches. 



1024 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



HUNTING A BITCH WHILE IN WHELP. 

There is certainly a sympathy between the mother and the unborn foetus, 
and puppies that are born shortly after a bitch has been shot over several times 
are much easier to break than if she was not worked. They take to hunting 
and pointing as naturally as a duckling goes to water when hatched. For two 
weeks prior to pupping make it a duty, therefore, to run your bitch where 
there is game and have her point as much as possible ; it will amply repay the 
breeder. In like manner allow hounds to run, and terriers to kill vermin, the 
more the better, so that your dog does not so injure herself as to bring on 
premature labor. 




LADY PII,OT ; A FINE GORDON SETTER. 

Born July 4th, 1880. Owned by Samuel G. Dixon, of Philadelphia. 



CHAPTER III. 
DISEASES OF DOGS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 

^^eatment of Asthma — Bronchitis — Common Cold — Influenza — Pleurisy — Pneumonia — Con- 
snmption — Rheumatic Fever — Distemper — Inflammation of the Stomach — Inflammation of the 
Liver — Inflammation of the Bowels — Mange — Canker of the Ear — Fleas and Lice — Chorea or 
Jerks — Fits — Worms — Rickets or Large Joints — Tumor and Cancer — Puerperal Fits — Pro- 
tracted Labor — Sprains — To Harden Tender Feet — Rabies or Hydrophobia. 

TREATMENT OF ASTHMA. 

Asthma in dogs is ofttimes hereditary, especially in house and pet dogs, and 
may be brought about by indigestion or irritation of the stomach. A sudden 
change of weather will bring it on. Fat dogs are especially prone to it; the 
symptoms are : thick, heavy breathing, a hollow, husky bark, much panting, 
and great constipation. Begin with low diet and administer 

Charcoal, 1 scruple; 
Iron, 10 grains, 

in a pill three times a week. Exercise and keep bowels moved with castor-oil 
twice a week until relieved. 

bronchitis 

Is caused by neglected colds, cold, damp kennels, want of care after return- 
ing from wet hunting-grounds, etc., and may be known by a continuous 
wheezing dry cough, which at times causes an effort to and brings on vomiting, 
the expectoration being frothy and mixed with blood, the eye inflamed, and 
the nose dry ; the tongue parched, with the pulse quick. In the beginning of 
the attack give the dog a warm kennel where there are no draughts, and dose 
with 

1 to 3 grains tartar emetic, according to size of animal. 

If this does not check give spirits of camphor | oz., spirits of sether nit. 1 
ounce, ext. liquorice 4 oz. ; a teaspoonful for small dog three times a day, and 
three times the amount for large dog three times daily. Feed with warm 
broths and bread and milk. 

common cold 

Is known by sudden chillness with heated surface of the body, quick pulse 
and hurried breathing. The appetite fails, bowels are costive, and urine high 

1025 



1026 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

colored. Very often there is a slight cough, and a running from the eyes and 
nose, which is hot and dry. Cause, exposure or sudden checking of the tem- 
perature of the body. For treatment give a dose once a day of 

Podophyllin 2 grain, 
Ext. colocynth 12 to 18 grains. 
Powdered rhubarb 3 to 5 grains. 
Oil of Cloves 2 drops. 

INFLUENZA 

Is difficult to distinguish from common cold ; the running of nose and eyes 
is more copious and continued, cough severer and fever higher. Administer 
dose as for common cold, and if not relieved give bolus of 

Ipecacuanha ^ to 1^ grains. 
Rhubarb 1 to 2 grains. 
Powdered opium 1 to IJ grains. 
Compound squill pill 1 to 2 grains. 

Give night and morning. Keep in dry comfortable kennel indoors, and 
feed on light diet. 

PLEURISY 

Is an inflammation of the membrane of the lungs caused by debility, cold or 
inflammation of the neighboring textures, and some times by wounds, or a 
severe beating of the body. It is ushered in by shivering and quick breathing, 
inspiration especially short, caused by the pain occasioned by the movement of 
the ribs. A dry cough is present, fever, nose hot, tongue slimy, eyes watery, 
pulse hard. The dog sits on his hind quarters, with his fore legs stretched 
apart, as if to close them caused pressure and pain. Administer 

Spts. aether, nit. 2 ounces. 
Liq. ammonia acetat. 4 ounces. 
A teaspoonfnl every four hours, mixed with double the amount of linseed tea for a ■mall dog ; 
twice the quantity of each for large dog. 

Apply counter irritants of mustard plaster to chest. 

PNEUMONIA 

Is brought about by exposure likewise, and oftentimes by the animal not being 
thoroughly dried and protected from the cold after washing in warm water. 
The dog is seen to shiver greatly ; this shivering is followed by high fever, 
pulse rapid, breathing quickened, accompanied with a short cough, eyes blood- 
shot. Treat the same as in pleurisy, especially the counter irritants. 

CONSUMPTION 

Is hereditary in the dog as in man.' Close confinement will bring it on, as 



THE DOG. 



1027 



will bad food, and excessive in and in breeding ; it sometimes follows dis- 
temper. All that can be done is to keep up the strength of the dog, with cod- 
liver oil and iron and good diet, avoiding a damp or cold kennel. 




RHEUMATIC FEVER. 



Dogs frequently have rheumatism, especially hunting dogs, and it is always 
accompanied with more or less fever; damp kennels often cause it. Its signs 



65 



1028 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



are as follows : there is considerable fever, but of not very high character ; the 
pulse is quick with shivering except when touched, when the slightest approach 
will cause a shriek apparently from pain. A good treatment is first a dose of 
physic of 

Calomel 3 to 5 grains. 
Jalap 10 to 20 grains. 
Mixed with syrup and made into a bolus. 

And follow, after it has operated, with 

Calomel 1 grain. 
Powdered opium 1 grain. 
Powdered colchicum 2 to 3 grains. 
And syrup enough to make one pill. 




SCOTCH TERRIER. 



This is a dose for average dog. The animal may be rubbed with any 
ai)proved liniment where the pain seems to be present, and his diet be made 
a low one. 



DISTEMPER. 



The great majority of dogs are attacked with distemper about the time they 
are casting their milk teeth, or a short time after they have gained their second ; 
but few animals escape it. An ordinary course of an attack of distemper is as 



THE DOG. 1029 

follows : great dullness with loss of appetite, followed in a day or two by a 
husky cough, especially showing itself after exercise ; a sneezing is now noticed, 
strength and flesh rapidly diminish, the stools are inky and offensive, the urine 
becomes very high colored, and the membranes of the eyes and sometimes the 
whites are greatly inflamed. Some cases of distemper seem to be confined prin- 
cipally to the head, another to the chest, and the third the bowels. When the 
brain is attacked the eyes are more injected than when the bowels or the lungs 
are affected. The nose and eyes show increased mucous discharge as the disease 
progresses. These are the general symptoms which intensify to the third, 
fourth or fifth week, when the dog dies from disease of the brain, lungs, 
bowels or exhaustion. When the head is attacked there may or not be a run- 
ning from the nose. A fit is most always the surest sign of brain trouble, and 
when this takes place more than twice, the distemper generally proves fatal, or 
the animal is ever afterwards affected with chorea, or the jerks. If the lungs 
be involved there is rapid breathing, cough, and profuse running from the eyes 
and nose. If this runs into inflammation of the lungs the danger is as great 
as if the head was affected. The bowels are sometimes seized and show by 
black purgings that these organs are involved, very often in this stage dis- 
charges of blood quickly carry a dog off. The best general treatment for dis- 
temper is as follows. At the commencement of the attack. 

Syrup of bucktliorn 2 ounces. 
Syrup of poppy 1 ounce. 

A tablespoonful once or twice at intervals of two days. A seton placed in 
the back of the neck, covering the tape with blistering ointment, will relieve 
the head if it appears to be affected. And a fever mixture as follows : 

Nitre 1 drachm. 
Spts. of nitre 3 drachms. 
Midererus spirit 1 ounce. 
Camphor mixture 6j ounces. 
Two tablespoonfuls every six hours. 

If the lungs are severely attacked, a powder must be put upon the dog's 
tongue every night and morning of 



Nitre in powder 3 to 5 grains. 
Tartar emetic | grain. 



And a cough bolus of 



Ipecacuanha in powder ^ to Ij grains. 
Powdered rhubarb 1 to 2 grains. 
Purified opium 5 to 1^ grains. 
Compound squill pill 1 to 2 grains. 



1030 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Administered every night and morning. If diarrhoea shows itself check it 

with 

Prepared chalk 2 to 3 drachms. 
Aromatic confection 1 drachm. 
Laudanum 3 to 8 drachms. 
Powdered gum arabic 2 drachms. 
Water 7 ounces. 
Two tablespoonfuls every time bowels are relaxed. 

For a diet, beef tea thickened with rice can be given, and for a time when 
the dog shows great exhaustion, a mixture of tincture of bark 2 ounces, 
decoction of yellow bark 14 ounces, a tablespoonful 3 times a day to a large 
dog, should be administered ; especially at the time of exhaustion should good 
strong beef tea with the white of an egg broken into it while it is lukewarm, 
be given by spoon every two or three hours. And if the animal will not 
swallow it, his head should be held up and he should be forced to. If this trouble- 
some plan of feeding is attended to, many a valuable dog can be saved to his 
owner. As strength gradually returns the diet can be made stronger, with care 
followed to allow no exercise until a gain is well established, and strength 
greatly restored for fear of a relapse. The kennel during distemper should be 
dry and moderately warm, and in a position where the dog will not be exposed 
to draughts of air. Finely bred, animals suffer the greatest, especially those 
that are much in and in bred, when the malady many times attacks the brain, 
which is the most dangerous seat of the disease. Fit after fit takes place and 
the dog is carried off by them. Some seasons distemper appears to be 
epidemic and is more severe and fatal in its effects, and scarcely a dog in 
certain sections escape. Dogshows are a great means for spreading the 
disease, and it is advisable not to enter an animal until he has had the disease. 
Distemper can be had twice, but it is seldom a dog is attacked more than 
once. 

TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH. 

Inflammation of the stomach or gastritis is brought about by improper food, 

foreign substance in the stomach or poison. When a dog is suffering from 

this complaint he makes frequent and violent efforts to vomit, and has great 

thirst, dry and hot nose and quick respiration, and will ofttimes lie on the 

floor, or pavement, or ground with his belly in contact with it as if to allay 

the pain. Give 

Calomel 1 grain. 

Opium 1 grain. 

In pill every three hours. 

And feed if he will take it with light soup and gruel. Gastritis and dyspepsia 
are much alike and may be treated the same. Continue easily digested food in 
dyspepsia ; the peculiar posture described is not noticed in the latter com- 
plaint. 



THE DOG. 1031 

TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER. 

Sporting dogs frequently have this affliction, especially when they have been 
exposed to cold and wet. Animals having little exercise ofttimes are attacked 
owing to torpidity of the liver, which many times runs into this complaint. 
The whites of the eyes in this disease are yellow. Shivering, hot nose, rapid 
breathing, costiveness, weak pulse and scanty clay-colored stools are also 
accompanying symptoms. The dog should be moderately bled, and then given 
a pill of 

Podophyllin 2 grain. 

Ext. of colocynth 12 to 18 grains. 

Powdered rhubarb 3 to 5 grains. 

Oil of cloves 2 drops. . 
The greater proportion for large dog and less for small dog. 

As soon as this has operated rub the right side with an embrocation of 

Strong mustard 3 to 5 ounces. 
Liquid ammonia 1 ounce. 
Spts. turpentine 1 ounce. 

At same time give a pill. 

Opium 1 grain. 
Calomel 1 grain, 

And keep bowels open with castor oil. 

TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS 

Is generally caused by constipation or a great amount of indigestible food, 
and may be known by great thirst and loss of appetite, and the peculiar 
attitude the animal takes; his back becomes arched and his legs drawn 
together. It may be relieved by bleeding, and calomel and opium in doses of 
1 grain each every 3 or 4 hours. If severe, bathe the dog in warm water, and 
after he is well dried, rub his belly with a liniment of J ounce each of spirits 
of turpentine, liquor ammonia and laudanum. Feed with very light and 
easily digested food. 

MANGE. 

Mange is a skin disease in dogs arising 
from filth, damp kennels, housing in cellars, 
and parasites; the disease is of different 
varieties. First the blotch, which appears in 
scaly lumps of hair chiefly on the back, 
sides, head and quarters, and in a few days 
the scab drops off, leaving a moist red spot. 
Give 




THE ENGLISH TERRIER. 



Calomel 3 to 5 grains. 
Jalap 10 to 20 grains. 



1032 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Keep on low diet and give exercise. Secondly the foul mange, which is 
brought about by impure blood, and cannot be cured until it is changed. It 
is considered hereditary though not contagious. In foul mange the skin 
becomes thick and discharges an offensive matter, and finally runs into ulcers, 
with great itching all the time, the hair becomes dead and falls out, and the 
animal is nervous and irritable. To cure requires patience and ofttimes long 
treatment. Change the diet at once, give no meat, starve the dog until he 
will accept oatmeal mush with boiled vegetables freely mixed with it, then 
administer liquor arsenicales with the food, one drop to each four pounds in 
weight of the dog three times daily, dividing the food into three portions for 
morning, noon and night. This must be kept up until itching ceases, and very 
often continued for months. Cosmoline may then be rubbed on the mangy 
skin thrice daily. 

Red mange is a disease of the hair, and may be known by the red 
appearance always at the roots in spots, at the elbows under the arms and 
inside of them, also inside the thighs. An ointment for red mange, of the 
following, well rubbed into the spots, is good : 

V 

Green iodide of mercury 1^ drachms. 
Spts. of turpentine 2 drachms. 
Lard li ounces. 

A wash of carbolic acid 1 part to water 30 parts, and plain cosmoline is 
efficacious also. 

CANKER OP THE EAR. 

Whenever a dog is seen to shake his head continually, and frequently 
scratch his ear, endeavoring to relieve an apparent inward itching of that 
organ, it is generally safe to conclude he has the canker. Sometimes the tips 
or edges are first affected, and the inflammation will, if not then arrested, 
gradually extend to the interior, which when attacked discharges offensive 
matter. Hunting dogs, especially water dogs, are subject to canker. To cure, 
place on low diet, and syringe the ear, first having washed it out with luke- 
warm water, with a weak solution of 

Nitrate of silver 2 to 6 grains. 
Water 1 ounce. 
According to size of dog, 

the first day; and on the second drop into the ear 

Green iodide of mercury 1 drachm. 
Melted lard 8 drachms. 

Alternate these until relief is had. If there are any sores on the edges ot 
the ear, touch them with blue stone. 



THE DOG. 1033 

FLEAS AND LICE. 

Make a stiff lather that will stand alone of strong rosin soap ; rub it thor- 
oughly into the hair and all over the body, being careful of the eyes, and let it 
dry on the dog, and remain an hour. Then wash off, and the water will carry 
the dead fleas and lice with it. This is safe and most certain. 

Persian insect powder is best for young puppies. 

CHOREA OR JERKS. 

This disease, often also called St. Vitus' dance, cannot be mistaken in a dog 
when he is afflicted. He will have either a continual jerking movement of 
the paws, head, shoulders or foreleg, intensified when asleep. It often follows 
distemper and cannot be cured. The animal's general health does not seem 
to be affected by it, but it renders him unfit for very hard work. It evidently 
affects his power of scenting to a degree. Keep from exposure to wet and 
cold, and give a tonic when very nervous of 

Sulph. of zinc 2 to 5 grains. 
Ext. of gentian 2 grains. 
3 times a day. 

FITS 

are of three kinds. 1st. Those arising from irritation (frequently worms), and 
the majority of times in puppies. 2d. Those caused by brain troubles. 3d. 
Epilepsy. Fits resulting from irritation come on at the age when puppies 
begin to cut their teeth. A hot bath will check them. Apoplectic fits are 
generally fatal. The dbg does not foam at the mouth in these, but lies quite 
still on his side and breathes heavily. 

Epileptic fits are known by the frothing at the mouth and a champing of the 
jaws. These can be cut short by an injection of five drops sether to an ounce 
of warm water. Give also two grains bromide of potassium twice a day for 
three or four weeks, 

WORMS. 

There are three kinds of worms that infest the stomach of a dog. 1st. The 
maw worm, of a white color, about an inch long. 2d. The round worm, 4 to 
7 inches long, pointed at both ends. 3d. Tlie tape- worm, often growing a 
number of feet in length, and composed of many small links or joints. Wheu 
a dog is troubled with worms his coat becomes harsh and dead in appearance. 
He is costive and loose at times, and his stool is generally mixed with a white 
slimy mucus. His appetite is ravenous, yet sometimes poor. He seems to 
derive no benefit from his food, and may be seen to swallow small pieces of 
dirt, ashes, rags or sticks, in order, as it were^ to force the worms from the 
stomach. 



1034 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

An infallible cure for the maw and round worm is a dose each day of Fahne- 
stock's vermifuge on an empty stomach, followed in two hours with castor oil. 
This vermifuge is composed of male fern and sautonine. Another good remedy 
is powdered areca nut — half of an average-sized nut made fine to a dog 30 
pounds in weight, given each day, as much as can be held on a 25-cent piece, 
on an empty stomach, followed in two hours by castor oil. 

A good expellant for tape worm is 3 to 10 drops of turpentine, according to 
the size of the dog, in a teaspoonful of oil, having well fasted the animal. 

Powdered glass, made im palpably fine, combined with lard and ginger, in a 
bolus, is another expellant much used. Use as much powdered glass as can be 
heaped on a nickel piece, and follow with dose of oil. 

RICKETS OR LARGE JOINTS 

are caused by defective bone substance. Cod liver oil and phospnate of lime 
(the combination can be readily purchased) will remedy. Dose, dessert 




SKYE TERKIEK. 



spoonful three times daily for large dog, a teaspoonful three times a day 
for small dog. A young dog with rickets should have ample exercise. A 
want of it aids in bringing on the disease. 



TUMORS AND CANCERS. 



A dog suffering with tumor or cancer should only be treated by a skillful 
veterinary surgeon, when the knife is always resorted to. 



PUERPERAL FITS. 



Sometimes after a mother has given birth to a litter of puppies, and about 
the time she begins to suckle them, she is taken with spasms or puerperal fits. 
When this occurs, place her at once in a hot bath, and immerse all except the 
head. This is, in the majority of times, unfailing in its effect. 



THE DOG. 1036 

PROTRACTED LABOR. 

A healthy bitch very seldom has trouble in giving birth to a litter. The 
time may be prolonged in some and short in others, but, as a rule, it is best 
to allow nature to have its course. If, however, assistance is absolutely 
needed, a gentle manipulation may be made, and a few drops of ergot admin- 
istered. 

SPRAINS. 

Rub the injured part with 

Malt vinegar 1 ounce. 
Spirits vini et camp 2 ounces. 
Aqua 7 ounces. 

TO HARDEN TENDER FEET. 

Bathe the feet daily in solution white oak bark and alum. Every other day 
rub into the soles cosmoline. 

RABIES OR HYDROPHOBIA. 

The term rabies signifies madness, and hydrophobia fear of water. The 
first is the appropriate name for this dread disease in dogs ; the latter conveys 
the wrong idea, as a rabid animal does not in any manner fear water, nor does 
the sight of it bring on spasms. The inability to swallow water and the 
agony experienced in attempting it, results entirely on account of the inflamed 
condition of the throat and the closing of its passage. The cause of rabies is 
not known. Some writers charge it to the absence or deprivation of natural 
sexual intercourse on the part of the dog. It is notable that the number of 
males outnumbers that of females in very great proportion, and in rural 
districts bitch puppies are invariably destroyed owing to the fact of their 
trouble when in season, and the double tax imposed on their owners in the 
counties where they are kept, so that the argument is a reasonable one to say 
the least. Again, wild animals of the canine species, the wolf, fox, etc., are 
never known to be aifected with it unless innoculated. It may occur in a dog 
in cold as well as a hot climate, but hot weather seems to generate brain 
troubles. Symptoms : The dog becomes sullen, has a desire to be alone, hides 
himself, and when called sneaks off to his retreat again. As the disease 
advances he begins to gnaw and pull at the woodwork of his kennel or sleeping- 
place. His eyes have a vacant expression, and will seem at times to be 
looking into the distance at some imaginary object. Small insects will be 
attentively observed by the sufferer, and will be intently followed in their move- 
ments; as they near him he will suddenly jump forward and make an angry 
snap at the supposed offender, and then sneak off as if ashamed of himself. 
Thick saliva will now come from his lips, and he will champ his jaws. As th« 



1036 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

disease intensifies the saliva becomes more copious, and he will attempt to paw 
it from his mouth. His voice becomes a hoarse howl. The poor animal will 
at this period start on his tramps to attain as it were relief from agony he is 
in. His gait is now neither a walk nor a trot, but an indescribable jog, once 
seen never to be forgotten. Anything crossing his path appears to irritate him, 
and he will savagely snap at it; very often he will go out of the apparent 
straight course he has taken, wander into the fields and attack cattle, sheep and 
swine. We can say nothing in reference to the cure of a rabid dog: the best 
remedy is the shot gun ; but as prevention is better than cure, a remedy is given 
for warding off* hydrophobia when a subject has been bitten by a rabid animal. 
All dog-bites should be treated as if they were inflicted by a rabid dog, by 
immediate suction, followed by cauterizing or by application of nitric acid. 
If rabies is known to be present, suction should be followed by complete 
excision of the wound. The following communication in regard to what is 
known as the Goodman cure, was written by a leading and highly respected 
citizen of Philadelphia, a prominent wholesale druggist of long standing, and 
who is well prepared to judge whereof he writes. It is proper to state that 
having, purely from a desire to save others from the terrible sufferings of hydro- 
phobia, consented without the slightest compensation to our use of this valuable 
■discovery in this volume, he has preferred to withhold his name lest he might 
seem desirous of bringing himself rather than the remedy into publicity. He 
has, however, given his consent for the publishers of this volume to refer any 
honest inquirer, after full assurance of the inestimable value of this first 
discovered 

PREVENTIVE OF HYDROPHOBIA, 

directly to him, but at the same time hopes that as the remedy is simple and 
the material abundant and cheap (obtainable for a mere trifle of any 
druggist), no one will neglect to use it should occasion arise. The Goodman 
•cure has been tested numerous times since the instances referred to and found 
invariably efficacious. 

THE GOODMAN CURE. 

"My attention was drawn to Elecampane many years since as a preventive of 
hydrophobia. The active medical principle of this plant is found in the root, 
and is called inuline. From my experience, I believe this inuline neutralizes the 
virus or poison of hydrophobia. Allow me to give a few instances where this 
simple remedy has been used. My own nephew, then a small boy, was bitten 
badly in the face by a dog unmistakably mad. This occurred within a few 
miles of this city. The father of the lad came immediately to town to obtain 
medical advice. We called on an eminent physician (now deceased) who at 
•once prescribed the plant named. The root was obtained and administered as 



THE DOG. 1037 

hereinafter directed. No symptom of hydrophobia appeared, and the lad, 
now a hale, hearty farmer in Montgomery county, lives to show the scar of 
the wound in the face. 

"The physician above referred to related to me a number of instances in 
■which the remedy had been used, and always with success. He in fact 
remarked, 'I never knew it to fail when jproperly administerecV I will give 
but two cases. 

A STRIKING PROOF. 

"First: Two men living near this city were bitten in the hand by the same 
dog, and within fifteen minutes of each other. The dog, a stranger to them, 
"was secured and imprisoned to await an owner. The next day he showed 
unmistakable signs of madness, and finally died with hydrophobia. Alarmed 
for their safety, both men came to the city and waited on the physician quoted 
above. He prescribed Elecampane Root. One of the men remarked, ^ that 
is an old woman's remedy/ and refused to take it. This man, returning to 
his home, placed himself under the care of his own doctor, who cauterized the 
wound, and administered medicine to salivate him. On the ninth day he was 
seized with spasms and died in agony. The other and more fortunate man took 
the Elecampane as prescribed, and never suffered in the least degree from the 
'dreaded disease. 

" Second : A number of cows feeding in a pasture were all bitten by a mad 
dog. The circumstances coming to the knowledge of those who had heard of 
this Elecampane remedy, thought it a good opportunity to give it a trial. 
The cows were accordingly separated — to one-half the number, the root was 
administered (in form of decoction), and not one of the cows suffered /rom 
hydrophobia ; whilst all of those not so treated took the malady and died from 
its effects or were shot. In quite a number of cases coming under my own 
observation of persons bitten by dogs supposed to be mad, I have recom- 
mended the use of the Elecampane, and have yet to learn of the first case of 
hydrophobia resulting from such bite where tile root teas used. I think, there- 
fore, I have good reason to have confidence in the remedy as a preventive. 

" Whether, after a manifestation of the disease, it would have a good effect 
or any effect at all, I am unable to say. I doubt whether it would. But the 
antidote is so simple, and so readily obtained, that it would be almost criminal 
not to employ it. Having said this much, allow me to give the 

MODE OP USING THE REMEDY. 

"To one and a half ounces of good, sound Elecampane Root, bruised in a 
mortar, add one pint of new milk, boil to half pint, strain off, and when cold, take 
at a dose in the morning, fasting. No food should be taken for from three to 
five hours afterwards. Repeat the dose on the third morning, allowing one 



1038 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

morning to intervene, and again on the fifth morning. The above quantity is 
for an adult ; for children given in proportionate doses, say to one of twelve 
years, half the quantity." 

FACTS MORE POTENT THAN THEORIES. 

"A correspondent, impelled by the narration of the death from hydrophobia 
of John Knippel, writes that for thirty years past a farmer named Fry, resid- 
ing near Allentown, Pennsylvania, has treated hydrophobia with unvarying suc- 
cess by the following simple method : 

"The patient is to be kept free from excitement of every sort, especially from 
that caused by the visits of sympathizing friends. The medicine is to be 
prepared by taking one ounce of Elecampane Root, powdered ; one table- 
spoonful of madder and one quart of new milk, and boiling them all together 
slowly (in a water bath if possible), until reduced to a pint. The dose is one 
wineglassful once a day for three days, then intermit three days, then repeat 
and intermit again, and again repeat. That is, nine wineglassfuls are taken 
in all, and there are three intermissions. 

"In support of the efficacy of this treatment it is stated that thirty years ago 
Mr. Reed and Daniel Mershon were bitten at Germantown by a rabid dog, 
that Mr. Reed was treated by an eminent physician, and died of hydrophobia^ 
while Mershon, under Fry's treatment, never suffered at all. A young man 
named Jacoby and a daughter-in-law of John Boyer, at the corner of Mill 
street and Chelten avenue, under similar treatment, recovered from the dreadful 
disease about twenty years since, and in 1858 a policeman so far gone with 
hydrophobia as to have to be held in the carriage in which he was driven 
through Germantown to Mr. Fry's residence, was also treated with entire 
success. A number of additional cases are quoted, in all of which the remedy 
described is claimed to have effected complete cures." 

The writer of this article believes that the Elecampane will cure the disease 
after violent symptoms have been manifested. I would say that I have never 
known a case where it was used after a full manifestation of the disease, but 
should most certainly strongly urge its use, particularly so, as no physician 
has any knowledge of a cure for the awful malady. When the person is 
bitten by a dog, mad or otherwise, great care should be taken to avoid talking 
about it, or doing anything calculated to excite the imagination. 

The Madder added in the second recipe is of no use whatever, and was, I 
imagine, put in simply to disguise the medicine, at a time when "Fry" 
charged an exorbitant price for his secret remedy. 



GLOSSARY 
OF SCIENTIFIC AND OTHER TERMS USED IN THIS BOOK. 



Abdomen— The portion of the body containing the stomach and intes- 
tines ; the belly. 

Abnormal — That which is not natural or regular. 

Abortion— -The casting of the young in an unnatural manner, and be- 
fore the proper time. 

Abrade, Abrasion— To rub off, to wear away by contact, as rubbing 
off the surface of the skin, producing galls. 

Abrupt— Qaiiik, sudden ; an abrupt turn or twist in the intestine may 
produce strangulation of the parts. 

Abscess— A swelling and its cavity containing pus or matter. A cavity 
containing pus. 

Abscission — The cutting away or removal of a part. 

Absorb — Swallowing up, drinking in. 

Absorbent— In anatomy, those vessels which imbibe or suck up, as the 
lacteals or lymphatics. In medicine, any substance, as chalk, mag- 
nesia, etc., used to absorb acidity in the stomach. 

Absorption— The taking up by the vessels of the body of any substance 
either natural or unnatural, as the serum of dropsical swellings. 

Accelerate— Growing quicker or faster, as an accelerated pulse. 

Acid— Sour. The last fermentation before the putrid. 

Acidulate— To make slightly sour, as with lemon, vinegar, or the 
mineral acids. 

Accretion— Increase, or growing as an exostosis or unnatural growth 
of bone. ® 

Aceni— Stony growths of the liver, resembling berries. 
Acrid— SharY>, pungent, biting, irritating, as the strong acids. 
Acute— Severe, sharp. In diseases, those which soon come to an end 

m contradistinction to chronic. 
Adhesion— A joining together, as the union of parts in healing. 
Adhesive— That which adheres, as certain plasters. 



1039 



1040 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Adipose — Fatty matter ; belonging to fat. 

Aerate — Mixing with air, as the blood in the lungs, by which it ab- 
sorbs oxygen. 

Affection — Disease, or disease of some particular part. 

Affinity — The attraction which causes particles of bodies to adhere 
and form compounds. That which causes substances to cohere. 

Albumen — Substances, animal and vegetable, resembling the white of 
an egg. 

Aliment — Solid or liquid substance taken as food. 

Alimentary Canal — The bowels. 

Alkali — ^Any substance which will neutralize an acid, as magnesia, 
soda, potash, etc. 

Alterative — A medicine changing the functions and condition of the 
organs of the body. 

Analysis — To separate into parts, resolving into the original elements. 

Anatomy — The art of dissecting, or separating the different parts of 
the body. The science of the structure of the body, as learned by 
dissection. 

Anchylosis — The stiffening or rendering rigid a joint. 

Anaesthetic — Agents which deprive of sensation and suffering, as chlo- 
riform, ether, etc. 

Anodyne — A medicine to allay or diminish pain. 

Anomalous — Deviating from the general character or rule. 

Antacid — Opposed to or an antidote to acids. 

Antagonism — Opposed in action ; one contradicting another. 

Anterior — Before ; in front of another part. 

Anthelmintic — Medicine to kill or expel worms. 

Antidote — That which counteracts hurtful or noxious substances. A 
remedy to counteract the effects of poison. 

Antiperiodic — Medicine to arrest or retard the return of a paroxysm in 
periodic disease. 

Antiseptic — Agents for preventing, arresting or retarding putrefaction. 

Anus — The fundament, or lower portion of the bowel at the tail. 

Aperient — Laxative Medicine ; that which gently operates on the bowels. 

Approximate — Coming near to. An approximate cure is by inocula- 
ting for another disease. 

Aqueous — ^Watery ; having the property of water, as watery matter, 
aqueous pus. 

Aromatic — Strong smelling stimulants, given to dispel wind and re- 
lieve pain. 

Artery — Blood vessels which carry the red blood from the heart. 

Articulate — Joining, working together or upon one another, as the 
bones. 



GLOSSARY. 1041 

Asphyxia — Death from strangulation of the lungs, from want of air.. 

Asthenopia — Weakness of the sight or vision. 

Assimilate— To make like another ; assimilation of food in the nutri- 
tion of the body. 

Astralgalus — The largest bone of the hock-joint, lying below the 
OS calcis. 

Astringent — That which causes contraction of the bowels or vital 
structures. Astringents are medicines which suppress discharges, 
as from the boAvels, blood, mucus. 

Attenuate — To draw out, to make thin, reduce in size. 

Atrophy — ^Wasting of a part, as the muscles. 

Augment — To increase. 

Auricle — The external part of the ear ; also parts of the heart, one 
on each side resembling ears. 

Balk — To refuse to pull, or to refuse to go forward at command. 

Base — The lower part, as the base of the brain ; the foundation. 

Beneath — Under a certain part. 

Biliary — Belonging to or pertaining to bile. Biliary duct, a canal 
containing bile. 

Boot — Buffer, a leather band, worn to prevent one foot cutting the 
other in traveling. 

Bougie — An instrument for opening the urethra, or urinary, or other 
passages. 

Bounded — Parts lying about another ; surrounded by. 

Breeding-in-and-in — Breeding to close relations, in the same sub- 
family, as the produce of the same sire but of different dams, or of 
the same sire and dam. 

Calcareous — Containing lime, lime like. 

Calculus — Any hard, solid concretion found in any. part of the body, 
as stone in the bladder, gall stones, etc. 

Calefacient — Anything producing warmth. 

Callous — Induration ; a hard deposit ; excess of bony matter. 

Cancer — A hard, unequal, ulcerating tumor, which usually proves 
fatal. 

Canker — Eroding ulcers of the mouth ; virulent, corroding ulcers. 
Any sore which eats or corrodes. 

Cannon-hone — The shank, or bone below the knee or hock. The met- 
acarpal or metatarsal bone of the horse. 

Capillary — Hair-like : applied to the minute ramifications of the blood 
vessels. 

Capsicum — Cayenne pepper. The small, long red pepper. 

Capsular Ligaments — Ligaments surrounding the joints. 

Capsule^ — A membranous bag or sac. 



1042 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Carbon — ^Woody matter. Charcoal is impure carbon ; the diamond is 

pure carbon. Carbonic acid is expelled from the lungs in the act of 

breathing. Carbonic oxyde in the blood or lungs is fatal to life. 
Caries — Ulceration of the substance of the bones. 
Carminitives — Warming, stimulant, aromatic medicines, used in colic 

and wind. 
Cartilage — Gristle ; the substance covering the ends of bones, moving 

and working upon each other. 
Castrate — To geld, emasculate, deprive of the testicles. 
Catarrh — A cold attended with running of the nose. 
Cathartic — Purgative medicine, used for freely opening the bowels. 
Catheter — An instrument used for drawing the water from the bladder 
and for other purposes. 

Caustic — Any burning agent, as potash, nitrate of silver. To cauter- 
ize is to burn, generally applied to the use of the hot iron in diseases. 
Cavity — A depression, as the cavity of a wound. 

Cellular tissue — The membrane or tissue which invests every fiber of 
the body, composed of minute cells communicating with each other, and 
which serve as reservoirs of fat. 
Cephalic — Pertaining to the head. 
Cerebral — Pertaining to the brain. 
Cervical — The neck ; belonging to the neck. 

Characteristic — A symptom of character. Characterize, to distinguish. 
Chemical — Relating to chemistry. 
Chirurgical — Belonging to surgical art. 
Cholagogue — Medicines to increase the secretion of the bile. 
Chronic — A lingering, long-standing disease, succeeding the acute 

stage. A seated, permanent disease. 
Chyle — The milky liquid, as taken from the food during digestion, and 

prepared from the chyme, and ready to be absorbed by the lacteal 

vessels before being poured forth into the blood. 
Chyme — The food modified and prepared by the action of the stomach. 
Cicatrice — The scar left after the healing of a wound or ulcer. 
Circumscribed — Limited . 
Cleft — A mark ; division ; furrow. 

Clyster — Liquid medicine injected into the lower intestine. 
Coagulate — To clot, as the blood when drawn. 
Cohesion — Connected ; adhering together ; sticking together. 
Coition — The act of copulation ; union of the sexes. 
Conception — Fecundation by action of the male. 
Condition — A healthy, serviceable state of the system. A firm state 

of the muscular tissue. 



GLOSSARY. 1043 

Colic — A griping disease of the intestines. 
Collapse — A falling together. A closing of the vessels. 
Colon — The largest of the intestines, or more properly, thelaxgest divis- 
ion of the intestinal canal. 
Congenital — Born with another ; of the same birth. Belonging to th»i 

individual from birth. 
Congestion — An accumulation of clogged blood in the vessels, or in thb' 

parts, as the lungs, brain, etc. 
Constrict — Drawing or binding together, as constriction of the muscles 

of a part. 
Contagious — A disease that may be communicated by contact, or the 

matter communicated, or proceeding from the breath or emanations 

of the body. 
Contorted — Twisted, twisting, writhing, as the body in pain, or from th^ 

result of disease. 
Contusion — A bruise ; a wound made by a blow or bruise. 
Convex — Having a rounded surface. The opposite of concave. 
Copious — Plentiful, abundant, as a copious discharge. 
Coronet — The upper part of the hoof, just where it joins the skin. 
Cranium — The skull. Cranial : pertaining to the skull. 
Crest — ^The back or upper part of the neck of the horse. 
Crupper — The buttocks of a horse. 
Crural — Pertaining to the legs, as the crural arteries and the crurai 

veins. 
Crust — The hoof, so-called. The outside laminae of the hoof. 
Cul-De-Sftc—A passage closed at one end. 
Cutaneous — Of the skin, as a cutaneous affection. 
Cyst — A small bladder or sac, applied to those containing parasites. 

which become encysted, or inclosed in an envelope. 
Djhility — The condition of weakness or feebleness. 
Decoction — A fluid formed by boiling in water. 

Decompose— The act of decaying. To separate into component parts. 
Degenerate — To become worse or inferior. 
Deleterious— That which is injurious, poisonous or destructive. 
Delirium — Insanity; loss of the senses, or a wandering of them in 

disease. 
Demulcent — That which sheathes and protects irritated surfaces. 
Dermal — Belonging to the skin. 
Dessicate — To dry. To make dry. Drying by heat. 
Detergent — Medicines having the power of cleansing the vessels or the 

skin. 
Develop — To increase. A disease develops its intensity. To show 

increasing muscular form. Bringing to perfection. 
66 



^044 ILLUSTRATED S'^'^CK DOCTOR. 

Diabetes — An excessive flow of urine containing sacharine matter. 

Diagnosis — The distinguishing of one disease from another. 

Diaphoretic — Medicines which cause perspiration or sweating. 

Diaphram — The midriff. The membrane, or brain muscle, which divides 
the thorax or chest from the abdomen or belly. 

Diarrhoea — A continued and profuse discharge from the bowels. 

Diffuse — To extend or drive out. That which may flow or spread, cs a 
diffusible stimulant. 

Digestion — The separation and dissolving of the food in the stomach. 
Digestive ointment has the power of resolving tumors. 

Dilate — To open wide, as dilation of the eye. 

Dislocation — Putting out of joint. 

Dilatation — The expanding of a body, as of the heart, arteries, the blad- 
der, etc., from over-fullness. 

Dilute — To make thin, as a medicine with water, with oil, etc. 

Diminution — To make less, to decrease, as of pain. 

Distort — Deformed, crooked, out of the natural shape. 

Distend — To stretch out, or swell. 

Diuretic — Medicines to increase the flow of urine. 

Dorsal — Pertaining to the back. The dorsal column ; the back-bone. 

Drastic — Powerfully acting medicines or poisons. 

Duct — A tube for conveying a fluid or the secretions of the glands. 

Duodenum — The first portion of the small intestine, and through which 
the bile is poured. 

Dysphazia — Difficulty of swallowing. 

Dyfipncea — Difficulty of breathing. 

Echolic — Parturients. — Agents causing the contraction of the womb. 

Effusion — A flowing out, as of the blood, water or lymph, into the tissues. 

Ejection — Casting out, as ejecting improper matters from the stomach. 

Elastic — The property of springing or stretching. 

Embryo — The impregnated ovum in the womb after growth has com- 
menced. 

Emetic — Medicines given to produce vomiting. 

Emollients — Agents which have the power of softening or relaxing. 

Enamel — The hard outer covering of the teeth. 

Enema — Medicines given by injection into the bowels. 

Enteric — Belonging to the bowels. 

Enteritis — Inflammation of the bowels. 

Epidemic — Disease that affects a large number, as though carried in the 
air. 

Epiglottis — The covering of the glottis. A tongue-shaped projection, to 
prevent food or liquids from entering the wind-pipe. 

Eruption — Pimples, blisters, rash, etc., breaking out on the skin. 



GLOSSARY. 1045 

Esophagus — The gullet, or tube of the throat wliich couveys food to 
the stomach. 

Evacuate — To empty or pass out, as, to evacuate the bowels. 

Eive-necTced — In the horse, having a neck like a shorn sheep. 

Exanthema — Eruption of the skin with fever. 

Excoriate — To tear or strip off the skin ; to wear away or abrade ; to 
break the skin in any manner, as in galling or with acrid substances. 

Excrement — Refuse matter. The dung. 

Excrescence — Unnatural or superfluous growth. 

Excreting — Throwing out from the body. 

Excrition — Separating the fluids of the body by means of the glands. 

Exhale — Breathing out, evaporating. 

Exostosis — Unnatural growth or projection of the bone. 

Extensor-tendon — The tendons which stretch out the limbs. 

Extravasate — To let flow from the proper vessels, as in bleeding. 

Extremities — The limbs, so-called. 

Exude — To discharge through the pores. 

Facial — Pertaining to the face. 

Fccces — The excrement. 

Farcy — A disease of the lymphatics of the skin of the horse. Also a 
disease allied to glanders. 

Febrifuge — Medicines to lower the temperature of the body and counter- 
act fever. 

Feculent — Foul or impure matter, formed by the breaking down of the 
tissues, excrementitious matter. 

Femur — The thigh bone proper. 

Fermentation — Incipient decomposition of vegetable substances from 
souring. 

Fibrin — An organic substance found in the blood and composing a 
large part of the tissues of the body. Fibrous membrane — a mem- 
brane composed of fi\)er8. 

Fibula — The small or splinter bone of the hind leg. The outer and les- 
ser bone of the leg ; much smaller than the tibia. 

Fissure — An opening, a craek. 

Fistula — A deep, narrow ulcer, having a pipe leading to it. Fistulous. 
Like a pipe. 

Flatulent — The generation of gas or wind in the stomach and iutestines^ 
as in flatulent colic. 

Flex — To bend, as the head, neck or limb ; as a muscle flexing the arm. 

Flexor — A muscle whose office it is to bend a part ; in opposition to 
extensor. 

Florid — Red or scarlet like, from excess of blood in a part. 



]Q4Y) ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCROR. 

Fomentation — The application of warmth and moisture, as with a liquid 

or poultice. 
Forceps — Long pointed pincers or nippers. 
Fracture — The breaking of a bone. 
Friction — Exciting circulation by rubbing. 
Fumigate— The application of smoke or vapor. 
Function — The oflSce or duty of any part of the body. 
Fundament— The anus or extremity of the bowel. The end of the gut. 
Fungus— An unnatural growth resembling mushrooms. 
Gangrene— The mortification or death of any part of the body, or of any 

of its tissues. 
Gas — An emanation, or invisible fluid, generated in the body. 
Gastric — Pertaining to the stomach. 
Gelatine — Animal jelly. 
Gemelliparous — Producing two at a birth. 
Generate — To beget offspring. Generative ; employed in begetting or 

producing young ; breeding. 
Genital— 'Relating to reproduction of young, or to generation. 
Gland — A structure for secreting certain fluids of the body, and con- 
taining a tube. 
Glottis — The narrow opening at the top of the windpipe. 
Granulate — Matter resembling grains, in the healing of wounds, and 

new flesh. 
Gravid — The state of being with young. 
Gullet — The oesophagus or food pipe leading to the stomach. 
Haggard — Worn down ; thin ; ghastly ; deathlike. 
Hcemal — Eelating to the blood. 
Ecematin — The coloring matter of the blood. 
Haunch— Thski part of the body which lies between the last ribs and the 

thigh. In the horse, the bony region of the hips. 
Haw — The process of the eye-socket, which is thrown over the eye to 

clear it of foreign substances. 
Hfc'ic — A constitutional and remitting fever exhibited in consumption ; 

produced also by ulcers, sores, etc. 
Hemorrhage — A discharge of blood from the vessels containing it 
Hepa'ic — Belonging to the liver. 
Hepatised—ConYerted into a liver-like substance. 
Hereditary — Inbred from the parents, as disease, color, vices and other 

peculiarities. 
Hie — Color. 

Humerus — The upper arm-bone ; upper bone of the fore-leg. 
Hysterics— A nervous disability, confined to females, sometimes attack 

ing males. 



GLOSSARY. 1047 

Illeum — The lower part of the small intestine. 

Incision — Cutting into, a clean cut, cutting as in any operation per- 
formed. 

Induration — A hardening, as a hard tumor. 

Incisors — The front teeth of the jaws. 

Infection — Communicating disease by miasma or emanations iron. :i dis- 
eased body. 

Ingested — Food taken in. 

Inject — To throw in artificially, as from a syringe. 

Inoculation — Producing the same disease by virus or matter from a sore, 
communicated from one animal to another, 

Instinct — Sense, as applied to animals. 

Interfering— The cutting of one foot or leg with the other. 

Interstice — The minute spaces between the particles of a body. 

Intestines — The bowels. The alimentary canal leading from the stomach 
to the anus. 

Invert — To turn about or upside down. 

Invigorators — Strengthening medicines, or agents. 

Jejunum— A part of the small intestines. 

Jet — The peculiar flow of blood from the arteries, or spurting motion. 

Jugular — The large vein of the neck. 

Lacerate — To tear. A lacerated wound, is a torn wound. 

Lachrymal — Pertaining to the tears. Tht' lachrymal duct is the duct 
leading from the eye to the membrane of the nose. 

Lamella — A small plate of anything; pertaining to the anatomy of the 
hoof. 

Languor — Weakness, faintuess, debility. 

Laryngitis — Inflammation of the larynx. 

Larynx — The swell at the upper part of the wind-pipe, and extending 
into the throat. 

Lateral — At, or to the one side. 

L'lxcitive — A mild, loosening purgative. 

Lens — A portion of the eye. 

Lesion — Disease of a structure ; any hurt or injury. 

Ligament — The bands of the joints. That which binds together. The 
fibrous structure of the bones. 

Lohe — A division of an organ, as of the brain, lungs or liver. 

Local — Confined to a certain part. 

Lubricate — To moisten, as the lubrication of the joints and moving parts 
by their appropriate fluids. 

Lymph — A transi)arent and nearly colorless fluid. The fluid contained 
in and poured out by the lymphatics. 

Lymphatic — The vessels of animal bodies which contain the lymph. 



1048 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Macerate — Steeped almost to solution. Thorough soaking of a part in 

water previous to dissection. 
Malady — Disease or ailment. 
Malar — Pertaining to the cheek bone. 

^Inlander — An ulcerous condition on the inside of thp legs. 
Malformation — Badly or unnaturally shaped or formed. 
MaUfinant— Severe-, loug; dangerous disease. 
Mediastimim — The partition formed by the meeting of the pleura, divid- ' 

ing the chest into two lateral parts. 
Medullary — The marrow; pith; a soft substance. 
Membrane — A thin animal tissue. Thin covering of the brain, bones and 

other organs. 
Mental — Relating to the mind. The reasoning faculty. 
3Iesentary— The membrane which attaches the intestines to the spine. 
Metastasis — The transference or removal of disease from one part to 

another, or such change as is succeeded by a solution. 
Morbid — A state of disease ; an unnatural state, as morbid humors ; a 

failing, sinking state. 
Mortification — The death of a part from gangrene. 
Mucilage — A jelly-like fluid; one of the proximate elements of vege- 
tables, abundant in slippery elm; the agent which lubricates the 

joints. 
Mucus— The substance secreted by the mucous membranes, and effused 

upon the surfaces of the membranes, as the running of the nose in a 

cold. 
Muscles — The lean or flesh ; the organs producing the active movements 

of the body. 
Narcotic — Drugs which allay pain and produce sleep. 
Nauseants — Medicines that sicken the stomach. 
Nephrites — Inflammation of the kidneys. 
jsj-erves — The fibrous system, which convey sensations to and through 

the body. 
Nervous — Having weak nerves. 

Neutralize— BestToying the force or effect of anything. 
Nitrate of Silver— LimaT caustic. 

Nutritive— That which builds up ; strong, healthy food. 
Nutrition— The process by which the food taken is assimilated ; to repair 

waste and promote growth. 
Obesity — Exceeding fatness. 
Oblique — Slanting. 
OcwZar— Relating to the eyes. 
Omentum — The caul. A fold of the peritoneal membrane, covering the 

intestines in front, and attached to the stomach. 



GLOSSARY. 



1049 



Optic— Relating to the sight, as the optic nerve ; relating to the laws of 
vision. 

Organ— The natural instrument by which a process or function is car- 
ried on. 

Organic— Composed of organs. Organism. The living body. 

Or j^in— The beginning or first existence of a thing. 

Os — The technical name for bone. 

Os Calcis — The tip of the back. 

Osseous — Bone like. 

Os Cheocele—Bcvotal hernia. Any tumor of the hernia. 

Ossification— Chsbnging to bone. Bony formation. 

Oxydation— The change formed by the action of air on any substance. 
The changing of the black or venous blood into red or arterial bloo**, 
in the lungs. 

Pa^M^wm— That which is proper for food. 

Pachydermata—A thick-skinned animal, as a horse, ox, man, etc. 

Palate— The roof of the mouth. 

Panacea— A supposed universal cure. A medicine applicable to many 
cases. 

Pancreas — The narrow, flat gland extending across the abdomen, some 
times called callet or sweet-bread. 

Paroxysm— In disease, a recurrence coming on after an intermission 
Chills and fever are paroxysmal. 

Parturition— The act of bringing forth young. 

Patella — The knee pan. 

PatJiology — Pertaining to the nature and constitution of disease. 

Pectoral— Fevtsbimng to the breast, as the pectoral muscles. In medi- 
cine, that which is adapted to relieve affections of the breast and 
lungs. 

Pectin— The gelatinizing principle of certain fruits and vegetables. 

Pepsin— A substance secreted in the stomach of animals. The active 
principle in rennet. 

Peptic — Promoting digestion ; relating to digestion. 

Pericardium — The serous membrane of the heart. 

Perichrondrium — The membrane covering the cartilages. 

Pericranium — The membrame lining the bones of the skull. 

Periosteum— The fibrous membrane investing a bone. 

Peritoneum — The serous membrane lining the cavity of the abdomen. 

Permeate— That which may freely invest or pass through without rup- 
ture or sensible displacement. Water permeates sand ; light perme- 
ates glass. 
Pharynx— The opening or tube at the back part of the mouth which 
leads to the stomach- 



1050 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Phlebotomy — The operatiou or act of bleeding. 

Placenta — The membrane covering the young in the womb. 

Plethora — A full habit of body ; full of blood. 

Pleura — The serous membrane lining the interior of the chest, covering 

the lungs, reflecting and lubricating them into its secretions. 
Plexus — Any union of vessels, nerves or fibers in the form of net work. 
Predispose — As likely to occur; inclining to, as being predisposed to 

disease. 
Process — Prominence; a projecting part; any protuberance, eminence 

or projecting bone. 
Profuse — Abundant, plentiful ; as a profuse discharge. 
Prognosis — The art of judging by the symptoms the probable course of 

a disease. 
Prolapsus Uteri'— Falling of the womb. 
Prolapsus Recti — Falling of the rectum. 
Pulmonary — Having reference to the lungs. 
Pulsate — A beating or throbbing. 
Pulse — The action or beat of the arteries. 

Pumices — The letting down or falling of the coffin bone on the sole. 
Puncture — Any orifice made with a pointed instrument. 
Pupil — The ball or apple of the eye through which the rays of light pat - 

to the chrystaline humors. 
Purgative — Any medicine having the power of operating strongly on th s 

bowels. 
Pus — The matter flowifig from a tumor when lanced, or from sores 

Healthy pus is yellowish white in color and secreted in the process oi 

healing. 
Putrefaction — The act of decomposition ; corruption ; rotten. 
Pylorus — The lower and right orifice of the stomach through which th.». 

food passes to the intestines. 
Quiescent — At rest. Showing no pain. Making no sound. 
Quack — A ptetender in medicine. A charlatan. 
Qualmish — Sickness at the stomach ; nausea. 

Quittor — An ulcerous formation inside the foot of the nature of a fistula. 
Rabies — Madness ; affected with hydrophobia. 
Rachitis — Inflammation of the spine ; rickets. This is a corruption oi 

rachitis. 
Ramify — Branched ; running in various directions. 
Rancid — A rank, strong smell. Incipient putrefaction. 
Raphe — A seam or suture. 

Receptacle — That which receives or contains another. 
Rectum — The last intestine. The anal gut. 
Refrigerant — Medicines or lotions to diminish heat. 



GLOSSARY. 1051 

Begurgitate — The act of throwing or pouring- back, as wind. 

Relax — To abate ; become more mild, or less rigorous. 

Remittent — Ceasing for a time, as a fever or a pain. 

Reproduction — Producing again ; breeding. 

Respinition — The act of breathing. 

Retention— Biopping, holding, as retention of the urine. 

Retina — The part of the eye in which the image is produced in the act 
of seeing, or vision. 

Rickets — A diseased state of the bones. 

Repulsion — In physics, that power by which particles or bodies are made 
to recede from each other. 

Reunion— The union of parts separated by a wound or accident. 

Sacral — Belonging to the os sacrum. 

Saline — That which is salt, or containing salt in solution. 

Saliva — The secretion of the salivary glands, which moistens the food 
in chewing ; also keeps the mouth and tongue moist. Salivation. The 
act of producing an increased flow of saliva. 

Sanguinification — The process of producing blood from chyle. 

Sanitary — Eelating to the preservation of health. 

Saphena — Major and minor — veins of the hind leg. 

Scaphoid — Shaped liked a boat, as the navicular bone. 

Sclerotic — The thick, hard, white outer coat of the eye. 

Sciatica — A rheumatic affection of the hip. 

Sear — To burn with a hot iron ; actual cautery. 

Secretion — The separation of various substances from the blood. 

Sedative — Agents to depress nervous power, or lower circulation. 

Sensorium — The seat of sensation. An organ which receives an impres- 
sion. Sensitive, having feeling. Sensitive lamellae, the lamellae of 
the cofi&n bone. 

/Se/Jtic -Promoting putrefaction. The poison of dead bodies, in contra- 
distinction to that of living ones called virus. 

Serum — The yellowish watery portion of the blood remaining after 
coagulation. 

Shank — The bone of the leg from the knee to the ankle. 

Sialogogue — Medicine to promote the flow of saliva. 

Sinus — An orifice or canal containing poison matter. 

Slink — The act of aborting; producing young before the natural time, 

Slough — (pronounced sluff.) To fall away, separate from in disease, as in 
or in mortified parts. 

Socket — The depression or process in which an organ works on another. 

/8'opo?(^c— Medicine to induce sleep. 

Spasmodic— Bpsksms, as cramping, fits, etc. Colic pains recurring at in- 
tervals. 



1052 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Spinal — Relating to the back-bone or spine. 

Splint — An excrescence in the shank-bone. Splint-bone, one of the 

bones of the leg. 
Spontaneous — A growth occurring without apparent cause. 
Sporadic —Bepaiaiedj scattered ; occurring here and there, as sporadic 

causes of disease. 
Sternum- -The breast-bone. 
Stimulants — Agents to temporarily excite the nervous or circulatory 

system. 
Stomachics — Agents to promote digestion. 

Strangulated — Chocked ; stoppage of the circulation in any part. 
Strangury — Stopping of a passage. 
Stricture — Stoppage or obstruction of a passage of the body, by morbid 

or spasmodic action. 
Stupor — A dull, sleepy, stupid sensation. Loss of sensation. 
Styptic — An astringent having the property of restraining or stopping 

bleeding. 
Sudorific — That which will cause perspiration or sweating. 
Suppuration — The process of forming pus or matter ; the result of inflain- 

mation. 
Suture — A stitch or fastening on j oining together. 
Symmetry — Well proportioned, handsomely and stoutly formed. 
Synovia — A fluid resembling the white of an egg, secreted at the joii'ts 

and articulations, for the purpose of lubricating them. Joint-oil, so 

called. 
Tegument — A covering. The skin. Integument, a membrane or skin, 

which, invests a particular part. 
Tendon — The dense, fibrous structure in which a muscle ends, and by 

which it is joined to a bone. 
Tent — A pledget or plug introduced into a wound. 
Tenuity — The property of being thin, as rarifled air. 
Tergal — Belonging to the back. Tergum, the back. 
Testicle — The seed. The gland containing the seminal fluid. 
Theropeutic—ThSii part of medicine which relates to the discovery and 

application of remedies for diseases. The use of diet and medicines. 
Thorax — The chest, or that part of the body between the neck and 

abdomen. 
T^6^a— The large bone of the hind leg. 

Tonic — Agents which gradually and permanently improve the system. 
Tonsil — An oblong gland situated on each side of the fauces, terminated 

by the larynx and pharynx, at the rear of the mouth and having 

excretory ducts opening into the mouth. 



GLOSSARY. 1053 

Tomow— Twisting. The act of turning or twisting, as in drawing a 
tooth with the turnkey. 

Trachea— The windpipe. 

Tractile —That which may be drawn out. 

TreacZ— Tramping upon, as the tread of one hoof upon the other. The 
part of the hoof resting on the ground. 

Tuber — A rounded projection of a bone. 

Tubercle— A small tumor, as tubercles in the lungs. 

Tumor— A swelling or enlargement, generally applied to those which 
are permanent. 

Ulcer — A running sore. 

Ulna — The larger of the two bones of the arm. 

Ulterior — Beyond a time or division. A last result. 

Uniciform — Curved or crooked, as a clam or the finger nail. 

Ureter — The tube or canal conveying the urine from the kidneys to the 
bladder. 

Urinary — Pertaining to the urine. 

Uterus — The womb. 

Vascular — Pertaining to the vessels of animal and vegetable bodies, as 
the vascular functions. The arteries, veins, lacteals, and the like, 
compose the vascular system. Animal flesh is vascular. Highly 
organized. 

Venesection — Letting blood by opening a vein. 

Venous — Pertaining to the veins, or contained in the vein. 

Ventral — Pertaining to the abdomen or belly. 

Vermifuge — Medicines or agents to kill or expel worms. 

Vertebra — A division or separate bone of the spinal column. 

Vertex — The top of the head. 

Vesicle —A small blister. Any membranous cavity. 

Villi- Fine, small fibres. Villous, abounding with minute fibres, as the 
inner mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, called the vil- 
lous coat, from its abounding with villi or minute hairs. 

Viruloit — A dangerous disease ; poisonous. 

Virus — Contagious or infectious matter. 

Viscera — The organs contained in any cavity of the body, particularly 
of the head, thorax and abdomen. 

Viscid — Any gluey, sticky or tenacious substance not easily separable. 

Vision — The act of seeing. 

Vital — Having or containing life. Necessary to life. 

Vivify — To bring to a vital state. 

Vulnerary — Plants, lotions, ointments, drugs or other substances useful 
in the healing of wounds. 

Wale — To move slowly on the feet, as in walking. 



1054 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Wane — To decrease, as in a fever. 

Warhles — Small, hard tumors on the back of a horse, from irritation of 

the saddle. The tumor occasioned by the depositing of the eggs of 

the gad fly in the backs of horses and cattle. 
Warts — Spongy excrescences on various parts of Ihe body. 
Whining — To utter the call of the horse. To neigh. 
Withers— The high process of the vertebra between the back and neck. 
Xerodes — Any tumor attended with dryness. 
Xeromyrum — A dry ointment. 
Xerotes — A dry habit of body, a dry disposition. 

Xiphoid — Sword-like. A small cartilage at the bottom of the breast- 
bone. 
Xyster — A surgeon's instrument for scraping bones. 
Yeasit?/— Frothy, foamy, spumy ; as yeasty pus or matter. 
Young — The offspring of animals. 
Zarnich — A name applied to the native sulphurett of arsenic, sandarach, 

or realgar, and orpiment. 
Zein — The gluten of maize. 
Zig-zag — Having very short turns. 
Zoology — That part of natural history which treats of the structure, 

habits, classification and habitations of animals. 
Zoonomy — The science which treats of the phenomena of animal life, 

their causes and relations. 
Zygomatic — Pertaining to the bone of the head, called also os yagale or 

cheek-bone, or to the bony arch under which the temporal muscle 

passes. 



Glossary of Terms Used by Poultry Fanciers. 



Beard. — A bunch of feathers under the throat of some breeds, as Hou- 
dans or Polish. 

Breed. — Any variety of fowl presenting distinct characteristics. 

Brood. — Family of young chickens. 

Broody. — Desiring to set. 

Carriage. — The attitude or bearing of a bird. 

Carunculated. — Covered with fleshy protuberances, as on the neck of 
a turkey-cock. 

Ohich. — A newly-hatched fowl, until a few weeks old. • 

Chicken. — Applied to indefinite ages until twelve months old. 

Clutch. — Given to the batch of eggs under a setting hen, also to brood 
of chickens hatched therefrom. 

Cockerel. — A young cock. 

Comb. — The red protuberance on top of the fowl's head. 

Condition. — The state of the fowl as regards health, beauty of plumage 
— the latter especially. 

Crest. — A tuft of feathers on the head ; the top-knot. 

Crop. — The receptacle for food before digestion. 

Cushion. — The mass of feathers over the tail and end of the hen's 
back, covering the tail ; chiefly developed in Cochins. 

Deaf-ears. — Folds of skin hanging from the true ears, varying in color, 
being blue, Avhite, cream-colored, or red. 

Dubbing. — Cutting off the comb, wattles, &c., leaving tixe head smooth. 

Ear-lobes. — Same as deaf -ears. 

Face. — The bare skin around the eye. 

Flights. — The primary wing feathers, used in flying, but unseen when 
at rest. 

Fluffs. — Soft, downy feathers about the thighs. 

Furnished. — Assumed full character. When a cockerel obtains his 
tail, comb, &c. 

Gills. — A term applied to the wattles, sometimes more indefinitely to 
the whole region of the throat. 

Hackles .—iLYiQi peculiar narrow feathers on the fowl's neck. 

Hen-feathered, or Henny. — Resembling a hen, in the absence of sickles 

Hock. — The elbow-joint of the leg. 

Keel. — A word sometimes used to denote the breast-bone. 

Leg. — The scaly part, or shank. 

Leg-feathers. — The feathers on the outside of the shank. 

Mossy. — Confused in markins:. 

^ ° 1055 



1056 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 

Pea-comh. — A triple comb. 

Penciling. — Small stripes over a feather. 

Poult. — A young turkey. 

Primaries. — The flight-feathers of the wings, hidden when the wing is 
closed. 

Pullet. — A young hen. 

Rooster. — The common term for the male bird. 

Saddle. — The posterior of the back, reaching to the tail in a cock, 
answering to the cushion in a hen. 

Secondaries. — The wung quill-feathers, which show when the bird is 
at rest. , 

Self-color. — A uniform tint over the feathers. 

Shaft. — The stem of a feather. 

Shank. — The scaly part of the leg. 

Sickles. — The top curved feathers of a cock's tail. 

Spangling. — The marking produced by each feather having one large 
spot of some color different to the ground. 

Spur. — The sharp weapon on the heel of a cock. 

Stag. — Another term for a young cock. 

Strain. — A race of fowls, having acquired an individual character of 
its own, by being bred for years by one breeder or his successors. 

Symmetry. — Perfection of proportion. 

Tail-coverts. — The soft, gloss^^ curved feathers at the sides of the 
bottom of the tail. 

Tail-feathers. — Applied to the straight, stiff feathers of the tail only. 

Thighs. — The joint above the shanks. 

Top-knot. — Same as crest. 

Trio. — A cock and two hens. 

Under-color. — The color of the plumage as seen when the surface 
is lifted. 

Vulture-hock. — Stiff projecting feathers at the hock-joint. 

Wattles. — The red depending structures at each side of the base of 
the beak. 

Weh. — ^Expressing a flat and thin structure. The web of a feather is 
the flat or plume portion ; the web of the foot, the flat skin between the 
toes ; of the wing, the triangular skin, seen when the member is 
extended . 

Wing-bar. — Any line of dark color across the middle of the wing. 
Wing-hoio. — The upper or shoulder part of the wing. 
Wing-butts. — The corners or ends of the wing. Game fanciers denote 
the upper ends as shoulder-butts ; the lower as lower-butts. 

Wing-cov'?'^*'' — T'hp. broad feathers covering the roots of the sec- 
ondary quills. 



INDEX. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



PAGE. 

Abdallah, Bellfounder blood, record. . 249 

Abusing a faithful servant 145 

Abuse of the hoofs 148 

Abortion in mares 104 

Abdominal cavity, wounds penetrating 476 

Abortion, causes of 105 

" preventives of 105 

" to prevent 105 

Absorbents, inflammation of 390 

" " of and recipes. 397 

Abscess within the brain 413, 415 

Acquired quahties transmitted 218 

Acute inflammation of feet 458 

Acute irritation of the skin 491 

" " " " " recipe.. .. 491 

Action, styles of 79 

Age of horse 47 

Age of the mule 51 

Age for breeding horses 96 

Age to train a colt 113 

Albany Pony 247 

Alteratives 500 

Ale for tired horses 139 

America, introduction of the horse . . 35 

American semi-wild horse 55 

American vs. English foals Ill 

American wild horse 74 

" thoroughbred horse 85 

American trotting horse, development. 245 

Ambling 124 

Antiquity of the horse 33 

Antiquity of cattle 34 

Anaesthetics 501 

Antiseptics 502 

Anus, soreness of 355 

Ancient Greek horse 188 

Ancient British horse 199 

An infallible rule 302 

Anodynes 506 

Apparatus, to keep 515, 516 

Apoplexy 410, 413 



PAGE. 

Apoplexy, recipes 412, 413 

Aptha 384 

' ' recipes 384 

Ariel, pedigree 209 

Artificial care in trotting 239 

A nerved horse 178 

Arab horse, first imported into Eng- 
land 200 

Arabian horse 63 

" " striking points 64 

" " color of 67 

" " first importation 68 

Arteries, enlargement of 392 

Astringents 402 

Bandaging the limbs 241 

Barbarities practised 146 

Bad usage vs. good usage 147, 148 

Balking and backing. 169 

Balking 179 

Bad heads, explanation of 184 

Back teeth of horse 48 

Back furrowing 126 

Barbary horse 71 

Bedford, pedigree 207 

Bedford's get 207 

Bellfounder and trotting stock 248 

Bellows.. 368 

" recipes 339 

Betsy Baker 247 

Bit, the medium of communication. . 242 

Bits and reins, wliat they are for 242 

Big Head and Bigjaw 435, 437 

Bites 491 

Black Maria, pedigree 209 

Blanketing 143 

" when necessary 143 

Blindness 170 

Blind horse, movement of 171 

Blood horses 181 

Bleeding from the nose 342 

1057 



1058 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Blind.teeth 379 

Blind staggers 406, 410 

Bladder, sand-like deposits in 372 

"• inflammation of 374 

" '•'• " recipes.. .. 374 

" ruptnreof 375 

Bleeding at nose 342 

Bleeding 487, 488 

Black pigment, tumors 490 

Bog spavin.: 416, 417 

' ' recipes 437 

Bone sitavin 439, 441 

" rt cii)es 440, 441 

Bi)iies of the feet 44 

Boston, pedigree 209 

Boston Blue 247 

Box stalls 13] 

Bots, recipes 351 

Bishoped teeth 170 

Biting 179 

Bitting, harness 113, 114 

bridle 113, 114 

Bots 349, 350 

Bot flies 350, 351 

Bolting 179 

Body and limbs oi horse, explanation 

of 184, 187 

Body of the horse in front. 270 

Bone spavin 169 

Breeding up, how to 156 

Breaking down 178 

Broken wind 178, 337, 496 

" " thick wind 178 

Bronchitis 321 

'' causes 321 

" how to know^ it 322 

" what to do 322, 324 

" recipes 322, 323 

Breeding, importance of 94 

" draft horses 101 

" in-and-in 98, 102 

Breeding of mules 108 

Brain, abscess within 413, 415 

Brook water 137 

Brush, the 141 

Brushes 143 

'■'• Brushing " for speed. 244 

Brushing or speedy cut 469, 470 

Broken knees 178, 470, 471 

Broken hock 478 

Buying cheap horses 173 

Buying for blood 198 

Burns 437 



PAGE. 

Cattle, antiquity of 34 

Canadian horse 88 

Cranium, importance of 44 

Calmuck horse 53 

Care necessary in training 117 

Carriage of the body in riding 122 

Canter 125 

Carrying the reins in plowing 127 

Carriage floor 131 

Cayuga Chief, early races 248 

Care in preparing the food 240 

Care of the feet 142 

Care of the frog 143 

Careful man's theory, the 151 

Causes of abortion 105 

Cataract 179, 429 

" recipes 4:.9 

Caries of the lower jaw 448, 450 

" " " " " recipes 449 

Canker 459, 460 

" recipes 460 

Cartilages ossified 466 

Capped elbow 471 

Cancer, epithelial 490 

Cathartics 502 

Carminative 603 

Caustics 504 

Castration, time for 486 

" how performed 487 

Chinese horses 53 

Ciiaracteristics of Canadian horse. ... 72 

Changing the leading food 125 

Choice of blood 225 

Choice of stallion 225 

Chopped feed 139 

Cheap structures available 153 

Chest founder 320, 321 

" " recipes 321 

Chronic cough ' 334 

" "• recipes 335 

Chronic gastritis 355, 356 

" " recipes 355, 356 

Choking 474, 476 

Cistus calculi S72 

Cleveland bay horse 61 

Clydesdale horse 79 84 

Clydesdale stud book 83 

Clydesdale horse 62 

Cleaning the stable 132 

Cleaning the horse 141 

Cleaning horses 142 

Cleveland Bay 162, 163 

" " improvement in 163 



INDEX. 



J 059 



PAGE. 

Colts' teeth 48, 49 

" milk teeth 49 

Choking 776 

Colts, how to raise 105 

Colts' starvi-ling 106 

". stabling 106 

" feeding 106 

" handling 106 

Colt, educating the 112 

*•' at weaning time 112 

"■ first lesson 112 

" haltering a wild 112 

" training a 113 

" age to train 113 

" training to work 113 

" how to handle 114 

" learning to back 114 

" handling a vicious 116 

Colts, saddling and harnessing 118 

" winter feed of 135 

Color in horses 174 

Colds, what to do 330, 331 

" recipes 331 

Colic, spasmodic 345, 346 

recipes 348, 349 

" flatulent 348 

recipes 348, 349 

Colon, inflammation and rupture of 351-353 

Comfortable shelter economical 130 

Comparison of speed, English and 

American horses 213, 214 

Conformation of brood mare 221 

Connestoga horse 90 

Control of stallion necessary 129 

Construction of stables 130 

Corns 178 

Cough 179 

Combs 143 

Conformation in perfect and imperfect 

horses 184, 185 

Cow hocked horse 193 

Consumption 326 

" how to know it 327 

" what to do 327, 328 

" Jiow to prevent 328 

"■ recipe 327 

Constitutional lymphangitis 396 

Corns 454, 456 

" recipes 455 

Contraction of the hoof 456 

" recipes 475 

Contused wounds 476 

Coiniter irritants 503 

67 



PAGE. 

Cruel care 152 

Crib-biters, wear of teeth in 51 

Crib biting 169 

Crib biting 179 

Cracked heels 262 

" " how to know 263 

" " what to do 263 

Crib biting 380 

Cripj^le, pedigree 205 

Cramp 422 

" recipes 422 

Cracked hoofs 453, 454 

" "• recipes 454 

Cut feet 138 

Curry comb 141, 143 

Cunning servants 1)4 

Curb 173 

Curbs 182 

Curb 417 

'' recipes for 417, 418 

Decay of the teeth, causes of 279 

" ^ " how to know it. . . 279 

Defects to be avoided 223, 224 

Demulcents 704 

Deodorizers 505 

" recipes 505 

Dentition or teething 378 

" what to <lo 378 

Deceptions practised in teeth of horse. 51 
Descendants of the Dailey Arabian. . 70 
Descent of Norman Percheron horse. 76 

Dervish 93 

Dexter 67, 238, 252 

Definition of unsoundness or vice 183 

Degelfe horse C3 

Dicky Pierson, jindigree 203 

Difficulty of breeding .» 337 

Diaphragm, spasm of 357 

" recipes 357 

Diarrhoea 362 

" recipes 363, 304 

Diabetes or profuse staling 369 

'"■ " '' causes 369 

" u .1 how to know 369 

" " " what to do. . 369 

" '' " recipes 369 

Dimness of vision 430 

Diapln-agmatic rHi)ture 474 

Diomed, pedigree 206 

Diomed's get 206 

Dislocations. 476 

Distortions 47(j 



irco 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Diseases of the ear 480, 481 

Division of the tendons 489 

Diaphoretics 504 

Diuretics 504 

Disinfectants 505 

Dissections 509 

Dish hoofs 76 

Diseases of the skin and sub-cutane- 
ous tissues 259, 294 

Distemper 808 

" how to know it 3(9 

" what to do 309 

" recipes 309, 310 

Dorirnant, pedigree lOG 

Doses, graduating 513, 514 

Dongola liorse 73 

Draft horse of Vermont 8S 

Driving on the road ". 242 

Driving 241 

evils of Ijard pulling 2-il 

Driving Jiorses 70 

" "■ colors of 79 

Description of tlie ancient Greek 

horse 188, 190 

Dropsy of the lungs 490 

" " heart 313 

" " " recipes 314 

" brain 314 

" " " recipes 314 

" " chest 31") 

" " " recipes 315 

" " skin of the chest 317 

" "• abdomen 318 

" " "• recipes. . — .. 319 

Dutchman, early races 947 

Durac and trotting blood 248 

Early impoi'tation of thoroughbreds. . 85 

Early maturity of horses of to-day.. . 214 

Early racing horses in Tennessee.. . . . 207 

Early racing stock in Kentucky 207 

Early training useful 2: 9 

Ear, diseases of 480, 481 

Eclipse, pedigree 208 

Eclii)se 60 

Economy of shelter 130 

Educating the colt 112 

Egyptian horse 73 

Edwin Forrest, early races 247 

Elbow, capped 471, 472 

Emetics 504 

Enlarged glands 331, 332 

Enlargement of the spleen 36G, 367 



PAGE. 

Enlargement of the heart 391 

" 11 ^^ urteries 892 

" " " liock 441, 442 

English roadster 60 

•' thoroughbred h(n'.<e. 68 

" native stallions in 1730. . 202, 203 

English vs. American views on speed. 210 

" " " race-courses... 214 

Epiglottis, spasmodic actions of 340 

Epithelial cancer 490 

Establishing intelligent action 243 

Ethan Allen 158 

Ethan Allen, 1852, record in 1856 248 

European horse 54 

Exostosis of the lower jaw 492 

"■ " " " " recipes. . . 492 

Exi)ectorants r06 

Explanation of good heads 181, 181 

" bad " 181, 184 

" ^ body and lin,l)s of 

horse 184, 185, 186, 187 

External manifestations ol;' disease— - 

exi)lanation of .: . . . . 256 

Extraordinary performances of horses. 21 1 

Eye, worms of 4."0 

" fungoid tumors of 431, 432 

Fanny Jenks, early races 248 

Fanny Murray, 100 mile trot 248 

Farm training track 128 

Farm stable 133 

Farmer Un thrift's barn 150 

'' " home 150 

F'amily horses 158 

Fatty degeneration of the heart. 391, 392 

Blaise quarter 461 

Falling off of hair 491 

Farm horses, proper stature 57 

Fashion, i)edigree 210 

Fast walking horses 175 

Farcy and glai.ders 178 

Farcy 302 

" causes 303 

" how to know it 304 

" what to do 305 

" recipes 806 

Fearnauglit, pedigree -03 

Feeding in training 239 

Feeding colts 106 

Feed bins 131 

Feeding 135, 239 

'' roots 136 

Feed of slow work horses 136 



INDEX. 



1061 



TAGE. 

Feed of fast work horses 136 

Feeding grain 141 

Feet, cure of 142 

Fever 389, 390 

Finely bred roadster 156 

First public trot in America 247 

Fistula of the pa otid du'.;t 385, 387 

Fistula 291 

" causes 291 

" how to know it 292, 293 

" what to do 293 

" recipes 293 

Flexibility 180 

Flexing the horse 115 

'' jaw 115 

Flatulent colic 348 

" '' recipes 349 

Fly, Canadian mare 248 

Flora Temple, in 1853 248 

Florizel, pedigree 206 

Foals, American vs. English Ill 

Foul slieatli 375 

Food, kinds and quantities of 138 

Foreign stallions in England in 1730. 202 

Founder 457 

" recipes 458 

Foot lameness 172 

Founder 178 

Form and symmetry 180 

Fore-quarters, showing bad conform- 
ations. 190 

Fresh food, important 139 

Frog, care of 143 

Fungoid tumors of eye 431, 432 

Frog, injuries to 456, 457 

Frost bite 472, 473 

*■' " recipes 473 

Fractures 479 

French horses 54 

Fridi horses 64 

Fungus collar tumor 280 

, " " '• causes 2Sli 

'' " " how to know. 292, 293 

" '' " what to do 281 

Functional diseases of the liver 360 

Gabriel, pedigree 206 

Gabriel's get 207 

Galloping 125 

Gastritis, chronic 355, 356 

" '■'• recipes 355,356 

General Butler 238 

Generous horses vs. laggards 239 



PAGE. 

Getting correct information 155 

General utility hoise 159 

Gestation, treatment of duiing 103 

Giving the horse a mouth 242 

Glancer 79, 80 

Glass eye 170 

Glanders, causes 295, 296 

" how to know 296 298 

" what to do 300-302 

Gold dust 100, 101 

Goldsmith Maid, memoir of 249 

'' in 186') 249 

" in 1876 251 

Good roads favor driving 242 

Good shelter, valui of 149 

Good farmer's surroundings 149 

Good care described 151 

Good head, explanation of 181, 184 

Gorged stomach. 358 

" " recipes 358 

Graduating doses 513, 514 

Gravel 372 

Granary 124 

Great Britain, horses introduced into, 199 

Grooming 135 

Gruel, how to make 139 

Grain should be clean 141 

Grease and mange 178 

Grease, causes. 262 

" how to know it .263,264 

" what to do 262 

" recipes for 264 

Guttacarina 433 

" recipes 432 

Haw or hooks 429, 430 

" recipes 430 

Hair, falling off of the 491 

" " " " " recipes 491 

Hard pullers caused by defect in train- 
ing 241 

Hardening of the skin 492 

'' " " " recipes 492 

Hambletonian, pedigree 249 

'■'■ description of 249 

Hamstring, rupture of 496 

Handling colts 106 

Haltering a wild colt 112 

Harness, bitting 104, 114 

Harness, training to 115 

Handling a vicious colt 116 

Harnessing and saddling colts 118 

Harness, horse 123 



1062 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Hand gallop ]25 

Harness room 131 

Hautboy mare 203 

Hay, quantity to feed 139 

" and straw, value of 140 

Heaves 337, 338 

" recipes 338 

Heart, enlargement of 391 

" fatty degeneration of 391, 392 

Herod, pedigree 206 

Hernia 473, 474 

" of the mesentery 473, 474 

" ventral 474 

" omentum 472 

Hemorrhage, internal 497 

Head, bad form 181 

" side view of, good 191 

" front \iew of, good 181 

" side vievt' of, bad 181 

" front view of, bad 181 

Helmsley Turk 201 

Hide bound 276 

" " causes — 276 

" " how to know it 277 

" " what to do 278 

" " recipes 278 

High bred roadsters 156 

" " hunting horse 167 

High blowing 421, 423 

" " recipes 423 

Hip sweeny 366 

Hitting with the blood 225 

Hiram Woodruff on driving 240, 243 

Holding the reins 241 

Horse clothing 239 

Horses introduced into Great Britain. 199 

Horses first kept for racing 200 

Horse in King Alfred's time 199 

" " Athelstan's time 200 

Horse in William the Conqueror's 

time 200 

Horse, cleaning the 141 

" cloths 141 

Horses, cleaning of 142 

Horse pails 143 

Horse, fast walking 175 

" what he should be 177 

" shoulder 177 

" upper arm 177 

" the knee 177 

'' tlie shank 177 

" the cannon bone 177 

" the pastern joints 177 



PAGE. 

Horse, hoofs 177 

the hackney 59 

" Turkoman 53, 72 

'' Calmuck 72 

Tartary 53, 73 

" Turkestan 50, 54 

" Europe 54 

" Iceland 54 

" Italy 54 

" France 54 

" Normandy 54 

" Norman Percheron 54 

" Spanish Barb 55 

" semi-wild, of America 55 

" the good farm horse 55 

" ■ the English roadster 60 

" the heavy draft 61 

" the Cleveland Bay 61 

" the Suffolk Punch 62 

" the Vermont draft , 62 

" the Arabian 63 

" the Dgelfe 63 

" the Secaloni * 63 

" the Mefki 64 

" the Sabi 64 

" the Fridi 64 

" the Nejdi 64 

Horses of slow work, feed 136 

" fast " " 136 

Hours of feeding 137 

Hoofs, abuse of 148 

How to breed up 156 

Horses for great speed 168 

Horse, view from behind 195 

" hind quarters bad 196 

" what not to buy 197 

" perfect, not plenty 197 

Hock, enlargement of 441, 442 

Horse, antiquity of 33 

" brought to America 35 

" where found 35 

" preserved in liis purity 35 

" framework of . . . 37 

" summary of parts 41 

" general explanatory terms . . . 43 

" head, explanation of 43 

" foot and lower leg, explana- 
tory terms 45 

" external parts, explanation of. 46 

" age' of 47 

" incisors furnish indication. ... 47 

" back teeth of 48 

" incisors 48 



INDEX. 



1063 



PAGE. 

Horse, incisors, how comp >sed 48 

" teeth, wear of 48 

" the mark 49 

" number of teeth 49 

" wolf teeth 49 

"■ when teeth are perfect or ma- 
ture 50 

" deceptions practised ill teeth.. 51 

" teeth, vocabulary of 52 

" Chinese 53 

" Indian 53 

" Japan 53 

" Siam 53 

" Persian 53, 72 

" age for breeding horses 96 

'' principles of transmission. ... 97 

" relative size of sexes 97 

" selection, value of 97 

" in-and-in breeding 98 

" cross breeding 98 

" Dervish 98 

" Marshland Shales 98 

" Gold dust 100, 101 

" body and limbs, explanation 

of 184, 187 

" front view of 188 

" front of 188 

*' of Ancient Greeks 188 

" fore - quarters, showing bad 

conformations 190 

" hind-quarters, showing bad 

conformations 190 

" illus rations of fore-quarters, . 191 

'' good hind-quarters 192 

" to examine 193 

" cow hocked 193 

Horses, draft, breeding 101 

How to raise colts 105 

How to handle a colt 114 

Horse, flexing 115 

" to handle 116 

" vicious, to subdue 119,120 

' ' working 121 

" breaking to work 112 

" training to trot 122 

'' the quarters 177 

" hams 177 

" " hocks 177 

" " back 177 

" " withers 177 

" " shoulder-blade 177 

" " croup 177 

" "■ barrel 177 



PAGE. 

Horse, the chest 177 

" neck 177 

" " physical structure of 177 

Hoofs, cracked 453, 454 

'' " recipes 454 

" rot , 454 

'•'■ contraction of 458 

Hunting Park Association of Phila- 
delphia 247 

Hunting horses 57 

Hunting horse, high bred 167 

Hydrophobia 399, 403 

Iceland horses 54 

Importation of Edward HI 200 

'' Henry YII 200 

*' Henry VIII 200 

" "■ Arabian horse, Eng- 
land 68 

Importance of breeding 98, 102 

" large Jacks 109 

" fresh food 139 

In-bred vs. out-crossed stallions 220 

Information, correct 155 

Improvement in Cleveland Bay. 163 

Interfering 172 

Inflammation of the lungs, causes. . . . 324 

" how to know it 3.5 

" what to do 326 

Influence of male on embryo 218 

In-and-in breeding. 219 

Influence of first contact 218 

Influenza, how to know it 339 

what to do 310 

" recipes 340 

Inflammation'of the colon. 351-353 

" " '' stomach.. .. 354, 355 

'• tt u peritoneum 359 

Infestation of intestines 359 

Intestines, parasites infesting 361 

" '' '' recipes. 362 

Incisors of the horse 39 

Indian horse 53 

Indian pony 92 

Italian horses 54 

.Jacks, importance of large 1(19 

Jaundice 365, 366 

" recipes 366 

Jaw, flexing the 115 

Jay Gould 252 

John Stewart 238 

Judge Fullerton 238 



106 t 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Judging horses 198 

Jugular vein, inflamed 392 

" '' " recipes.... 394, 395 

Kadischi horse 64 

Kailhan horse 64 

Keeping one's temper 242 

Kemble Jackson 258 

Kicking 169, 179 

Kidneys, inflammation of 367, 368 

" '' " recipes 368 

Kinds and quantities of food 138 

King Jolm's importation 200 

Knee joint, inflammation of 448 

'' broken 470 

Know what you breed for 155 

Kochlani horse 64 



Lady Suffolk, early races 248 

Laying out lands 126 

Lake water 137 

Larva in tlie skin 284 

Laryngitis, causes 332 

'' recipes 333 

Lanipas 381 

Lachrymal gland, impediment of .432, 433 

Lacerated wounds 477 

Large Jacks, importance of 109 

Leading foot, changing the 125 

Leucorrhea, catarrh of the womb. . . . 376 

Lexington, pedigree 210 

Lecompte 210 

Liglit harness, training to 125 

" " trotting 125 

Linseed meal ' 140 

Light harness horses 163 

Little Mack 238 

Liver, functional diseases of 360 

" congestion of 360 

" inflammation of 361 

Lime or white urine 372 

Lock jaw 419, 422 

Longfellow 238 

iMUg Island course 247 

Lower jaw, caries of 448, 450 

"■ " " "recipes 449 

" '■'■ exostosis 492 

Loose bf)xes in stables 131 

Longfellow 167 

Lula 166 

Lungs, dropsy of 490 

Lymphangitis 396 



PAGE. 

Makelass, pedigree of. 204 

Mare, number of teeth 49 

" treatment during gestation 103 

" when in season 103 

Mares, care of after being served 103 

Mare, to know when in foal 104 

" " " time of foaling 104 

Marshland shales 98 

Marske, pedigree 206 

Mares, treatment 103 

Mangers 131 

Mashes, how to make 139 

Manure fork 144 

Mange 272 

"■ how to know it, 273 

" what to do 273 

" recipes 274 

Meallenders 287 

" recipes 287 

Malignant epidemic. 326 

Mad staggers 403, 406 

Maud S 252 

Measurements of famous horses 160 

Megrims 179 

Metacarpal bones, inflammation . 446, 447 

" " recipes 447 

Measures and weights 508 

Medicines and doses 511, 513 

Mefke horse 63 

Messenger and trotting stock 249 

Medley, pedigree of 205 

Mexican mustang 92 

Mismatched colors 175 

Movement in trotting 123 

Miss Colville 203 

Moistening grain fed 141 

Mouth, inflammation 382 

Moon eyes 170, 428 

" recipes 428 

Morgan horse 86 

" " points of 87 

Morton's Traveler, pedigree of 204 

Morocco Barb 201 

Model racing horse 167 

Modern race horse 212 

Moon eyes 170 

Moses, pedigree 207 

Monkey, " 203 

Movement in walking 176 

Mule, to determine the age 51 

Mules, value 107 

" treatment 107 

" breeding 108 



INDEX. 



1065 



PAGE. 

Mules, Spanish 64 

Myositis 458 

Narragansett pacer 87 

Native country of the horse 34 

' ' Percheron horse 54 

Nasal gleet 311 

" causes 311 

"• how to know 311 

" what to do 311, 312 

Nose-bleed 342 

Nasal polypus. 312 

Naturally weak eyes 32G 

Navicular disease 451, 453 

"■ " recipes for 453 

Narrow heel 45G 

Nail picking. . . . ! 350 

Navel rupture 474 

Narcotics 506 

Neurotomy 4h9 

Nejdi horse 64 

Necessity of clean grain 131 

" "■ blanketing 143 

Norman horse 54 

" Percheron 75, 76, 77, 78 

" "■ descent of 76 

" " points of 78 

Noted horses of the last century. 

South 205 



Oblique tail 69 

Old time trotters 247 

Ophthalmia 179 

"■ purulent 431 

" recipes for 431 

Organs of generation, inflammation of 375 
Oriental blood in England, time of 

Cromwell 201 

Oriental blood and English horses 201 

" horses no longer profitable . . 202 

Ossification 1 78 

■Ossified cartilages 466 

Otho, pedigree 206 

Out shed 133 

Out-crossing 219, 220 

Over-reaching 172 

Ovum of mammalia 217 

Pacing gait 124 

Pacing 124 

Parasites infesting the intestines 361 

re- 
cipes for 362 



PAGE- 

Parotid gland, inflammation of. . 284, 285 

duct, fistula of 285, 287 

Paralysis, partial 498, 499 

" " recipes 499 

Persian horse 53, 72 

Periodic lieat 217 

Peritoneum, inflammation of. 359 

Peril), teotomy 4b6, 4k8 

Pink-eye 340 

Plow, training for 126 

Plowing light hand furrows. 1-6 

square lands 125 

" carrying tlie reins 127 

Pleurisy, how to know 328 

" what to do 320 

'' recipes 329, 330 

Points of Arabian horse 64, 67 

" Norman Percheron 78 

" the Morgan horse 87 

" the Clydesdale 83, 84 

Ponies 90, 91, 92, 93 

" Shetland 92 

" Mexican 93 

" Indian 93 

Poisoning 482, 4S4 

" internal 482, 483 

" from stings 484 

" '' recipes 484 

Poisoned skin 485 

Poll evil, causes 288 

" how to know 288, 289 

" what to do 289,290 

' ' recipes 289 

Pond water 137 

Preparing food 139 

Preparation preceding first trial. 239, 240 

Principles of breeding 216, 219 

" " transmission iji horse.. . 96 

Projecting teeth 383 

Proper stature of farm horse 57 

Pulling slowly and steadily 127 

" at halter or bridle 169 

Pumiced foot 178 

Purity, value of in horse 95 

Pneumonia, causes 324 

'' how to know 325 

" what to do 326 

Pryor, pedigree 210 

Purulent ophthalmia 431 

" " recipes 431 

Pumice foot 465 

Punctured wounds of the sole inside. 467 
woiuids 477 



1066 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Quantity of food to be given 248 

" hay to feed 139 

Quarter cracks 172 

false 461 

Queen Mab 203 

Quittor 178, 461 

'' recipes 463 

Jlabies . ._ 399, 403 

Racking 124 

Racer, to train 128 

Race riding 128 

Racing liorses 199 

Racing, origin of the word 199 

Race horses first imported to America. 203 
Race course first established in Eng- 
land 200 

Race horses at the North 208, 210 

Race course established at Albany, 
Poughkeepsie, Harlem, New York 208 

Racks 131 

Racing horses 167 

Racer what he should be 167 

Rarey's plan " 121 

Rat tail 286 

" recipe 286 

Relaxants 507 

Rearing 179 

Relative size of sexes 97 

Rheumatism 422, 424 

"■ recipes 423, 424 

Riding, carriage of the body 122 

Riding racers 128 

in the saddle 245 

Rigid pulling a mistake 242 

River water 137 

Ringbone 169, 178 

Ring worm 275 

" " causes 275 

" " how to know it 275 

" " what to do 276 

*•• " recipes 276 

Ringbone 442, 443 

" recipes 443 

Ripton , early races 247 

Rotten bone. 447, 448 

" recipes 448 

Road driving a fine art 242 

Roadster driving vs. T/otting on the 

course 243, 244 

Roaring 493, 495 

" recipes 495 

Roots, feeding 156 



PAGE. 

Roadsters, highly bred 156 

" finely bred 156 

Rogue, the 170 

Roaring. 72 

Roundhead, iiedigree of 203 

Routh's Crab, '' "• 203 

Rupture of the colon 351, 353 

" " " stomach 357 

Rupture 473, 474 

" of hamstring 496 

" bladder 375 

Running 125 

Rubbing cloths 143 

Saddle galls 279 

" " recipes 279, 280 

Saddle riding in England 245 

" horse, good form for 165 

" horses of all gaits 165,- 166 

" horse, color for 174 

" horses, styles of action 175 

" horse 159 

" and harness horses, training 

to 115 

Saddling and harnessing colts lis 

Saddle, training to the 121 

" trotting under 122 

Sallenders 287 

' ' recipes 287 

Salt in feed 139 

Sand cracks 172 

" crack 460, 461 

" " recipes for 461 

Scraper 143 

Scratches, causes 259, 260 

" how to know 260 

' • what to do 260, 261, 262 

" recipes 261, 262 

Scoop shovels 144 

Scurvy of the teeth 38e 

Scald mouth 383 

" " recipes 384 

Scrofula 389 

Sclerostomum equinum 392 

Scarlatina 397 

Scalds 473 

Seat of the driver 243 

Seedy toe 465, 466 

Sedatives 496 

Semi-wild horses of America 5.1 

Selection of brood mare 221 

" " horse, value 97 

Selina '. 203 



INDEX. 



106; 



PAGE. 

Severe bits objectionable 242 

Shifting the leucli 244, 245 

" bit 244 

Sliark, pedigree 205 

Shying 172, 179 

Shoeing 142 

Shedding the teetii o79 

Sharp and projecting teeth 383 

Shot o'grease 396 

Shoulder, sweeny 437, 438 

" recipes 438 

Shetland ponies 91 

Sitfast 279, 280 

Side bones • 466, 467 

Siam horse 53 

Single foot. '. 132 

Skin, acute irritation 491 

" " " recipes 491 

" hardening 491 

" " recipes 492 

Skeleton of horse, explanation 39, 40 

Slings 491 

Slavering 382 

Sleepy staggers, or apoplexy 410, 413 

" " " recipes 412, 413 

Slinking foals, to know when 104 

Small size of old time racers 212 

Smart tricks of drivers 241 

Soundness and vigor in horses 96 

Sore nose 493 

Soundness, warranty of 179 

Sour stomach 344, 345 

" "" recipes 346 

Soreness of the anus 355 

Sore shins 446, 447 

"■ "• recipes for 447 

" eyelids 427 

" "■ recipes for 427 

Spark 203 

Sponges 143 

Splint brooms 144 

Splints 169 

Spasmodic action of glottis 343 

'' '' recipes 343 

" colic. 346 

" " recipes 347 

Spasm of the diaphragm 357 

" '" " recipes 357 

Spavin, bog 416, 417 

" blood 416 

Spleen, enlargement of 366, 367 

Splint.... 444, 44.5 

" recipes for 445 



PAGE. 

Spanisli barb horse 54 

mule 108 

Spavin, bone 439, 44] 

." '' recipes 440,441 

Squirt, pedigree 206 

Staggers, mad 403, 406 

blind 406, 410 

' ' recipes 419 

Steadying the horse 242 

Stifle 444 

' ' recipes for 444 

Strangles 342 

Stomach, inllammation of 354, 355 

"• rupture of 357 

" gorged 358 

'• recipes 358 

Stoutness the forte of early racers 212 

Strangulation of the intestines. . 359, 360 

Stump sucking 380 

Stringhalt 178 

Stable tools 143 

Straw wisps 143 

Story of thrift and unthrift 148, 153 

Stumbling 169 

Stable care 141 

Stable, water in 134 

Staling, profuse, or diabetes, causes. . 369 

" " how to know. 369 

" " what to do 369 

" " recipes 369 

Strains and sprains 468, 469 

Stimulants 507 

Stone in the bladder 372 

Stricture of the urethra 375 

Starveling colts 106 

Stabling colts 106 

Steady and slow pulling 127 

Stable, construction 128 

loft 131, 133 

" walls 131 

Stalls, width 131 

" temperature 132 

Stable, cleaning the 132 

' ' surroundings 133 

" yard 134 

Surgical and other instruments. . 510, 511 

Suppression of urine 373 

Suffolk Punch, horse 62 

Surfeit, causes 270 

" how to know 270 

" what to do 271 

" recipes 271, 272 

Summer blankets 143 



1068 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Swelled ankles 267 

" "• causes 267 

" " how to know it 267 

" " what to do 2^7 

" legs, causes 267 

" " how to know 268 

" " wliattodo 268, 269 

" "■ recipes 269 

Sweating 240 

Sweet mash 139 

Swelled throat 332 

"■ "• recipes 333 

Sweeny, hip, etc 438 

Swellings from pressure 493 

Symptoms, importance of 509 

Taking hold of the reins 244 

Tally Roger, pedigree 203 

Tartar horse. 53, 73 

Teeth of horse 48 

" '' the mark 49 

" decay.. 379 

' ' scurvy 380 

" projecting 383 

Teaching a colt to back 114 

Tetanus 419, 422 

" recipes 420 

Temperature of stables 132 

Tendons, division 489 

Tetter 285 

" recipe for 285 

Teething 378 

" what to do 378 

Teeth, shedding 379 

The embryo 217 

The Giles horse 247 

Thickening of the back sinews 178 

Thrush, causes 264 

" how to know 265 

what to do 265 

" recipes for 266 

Thrush 178, 384 

" recipes 384 

Thumps 388, 389 

" recipes 389 

rhorough pin 418 

" recipes 418 

" blood valuable in trotters. . 248 

Thoroughbred horses. South 204, 208 

" horse in America 85 

" " early importation 85 

Time of celebrated horses 213, 215 

" to clean 142 



PAGE. 

Toe crack 455, 464 

" recipes 464 

Tonics 607 

Tongue inflammation 383 

To subdue a vicious horse 119, 120 

Tool room 131 

To make gruel liO 

" hay tea 140 

To detect vices and defects 169 

Tools of stable 143 

Topgallant 247 

Tracheotomy 486, 488 

Tumors, black pigment 543 

Treadwell mare r 242 

Treatment of mares 103 

" '' mules 107 

Training to trotting 242 

" intelligent care necessary . . 2S9 
" condition, importance of .. . 239 

the 3-year-old 248 

" colts to work 113 

" to saddle and harness 115 

" to harness 115 

" proper care in 117 

to tlie saddle 121 

" a horse to trot .• 122 

Trials of speed 248 

Trotting under the saddle 122 

" movement in 123 

" in harness 123 

Training to trot in harness l"-3 

" to light harness 125 

fortheplow 126 

' ' to the wagon 127 

' ' a racer 128 

' ' track on the farm 128 

" a stallion 128 

Trotting horses 239, 247 

' ' horse of America 249 

" stallions in England, time of 
Henry VIII. , by whom 

kept 201 

" in light harness 125 

" at various speeds 126 

" horse, to buy 163 

Trustee 4S3 

Trotter in light harness 164 

Tryall 203 

Turf horses 199 

Turning the toe out 172 

" in 172 

Turkestan horse 54, 72 

Turkoman horse 53, 72 



INDEX. 



1069 



PAGE. 

Tuikish horse 72 

Ulceration of the foot 451, 453 

" " recipes.. . 451, 453 

Ultimate trotting- speed 243, 244 

Unsoundness, to be noted 222 

" what constitutes 179 

Urine, lime or white 372 

" suppression of 373 

"■ "• recipes for. 373, 374 

Urethra, stricture of 376 

Using the means we have 153 

Value of good bits 242 

'' " purity in horse 95 

" " selection 97 

" '^ mules 107 

" " ha)' and straw 130 

" " good shelt'r 149 

Vagina, inflammation of 376 

Veterinary surgery 486, 490 

Vermifuges 507 

Ventilation of stables 131, 132 

Vestibule to stable 132 

Vermin 283, 284 

Vermont draft horse 62 

Vision, jimness of 4.?0 

Vices and defects 169 

Vicious horse, to subdue 119, 120 

Vocabulary of horses' teeth 52 

Walking horse 122 

Wagon, training to 165 

Water in stable 1:^4 

" " tanks 134 

Watering 135, 137, 240 

Water before feeding 137, 138 

Watering when driving 138 

Washing the team 142 



PAGE. 

Washing horses 173 

Warranty for unsoundness and vice. . 179 

Warts 281 

'' causes 282 

" what to do 282 

Weak lungs 173 

Weaving in the stable 179 

Weed 396 

Weak eyes 426 

Weights and measures 508 

Well water 137 

Wear of teeth in crib-biters 51 

Whalebone, early races 247 

What to feed 136 

What constitutes unsoundness.. 178, 179 

What a horse should be 177 

When to feed 13? 

Wheelbarrow 144 

White Turk 201 

White or lime urine 372 

White spot 171 

Wild horses of iVmerica. . ; 73 

Width of stalls 131 

Windmill 134 

Winter feed for colts 136 

Wind-galls 495 

Woodcock, pedigree 203 

Wolf teeth in horse's mouth 49 

Womb, inflammation of 376 

" catarrh of 376 

Wolf's teeth 172 

Worms in the eye 430 

Wounds of the sole 467 

" " " contused 476 

" " " " recipes.. 477 

" " lacerated 477 

" "" " punctured... 477,478 
Wry tail 171 



CATTLE. 



PAGE. 

Abortion in cows 757, 758 

" " how to prevent 758 

" " treatment 758 

About Barns 661 

" Dutch cattle 590 

" Herd Books 590 

Absorbents, their use 787 

" recipes for 78S 

Advantages of full feeding 693 

Afterbirth, retention of. 754 

Alderney cattle 564 575 

Alderneys, origin of 565 

" old style, colors of. 565 

" Youatt and Parkinson 565 

" American 566,567 

" characteristic colors of 567 

•' as milkers 567 

" points of. 537,570 

" scale of points, cows and 

heifers 568,570 

" bulls, judging of 570 

" judging by points 572,575 

" as daily cows 575 

Alfalfa .- 'olQ 

American climate «s. English 580 

American Holstelns 590 

American short-horns 540, 541 

Anaesthetic, recipe for 742 

Analyzing thecarcass 699 

Ancient cattle 519 

Ancient vs modern barns 671, 672 

Angle cattle 599 

Animals, pulse of. 746 

Animal waste , ^^2 

Anthrax, preventives of. 770 

Anti-spasmodics 783 

Arranging basements 670 

Artificial protection 658 

Astringents •. 790 

Ayrshire cattle 576,587 

Ayrshires improved, England 576, 577 

Ayrshires in the East 580 

" in the West 581 

" points, descriplion of... 581 

" usefulness of. 581 

" escutchons of. '. 582 

♦' from English and American 

standpoints ". 584, 587 

" the body 584 

" the skin 585 

" relating to 585 

♦' head 586 

1070 



PAGE. 

Ayrshires, the top points 536 

" the teats sgg 

" the color 537 

" the carriage 537 

'• of Corrick 576 

of Kyle 576 

" of Cunningham 57^ 

" of the last century 576 

" in 1800 578 

" as milkers 578 

" English, yields of milk 579 

"■ " yields of butter 579 

" " " cheese 579 

" " in America 580 

" first imported to the U. S.... 580 
" American, yields of butter.... 581 

Baby beef. ygg 

Barn, for farm (jyo 

" common-sense (,62 

" octagonal 662 

" square 663 

" stables in basement 664 

" cattle feeding basement 664 

" dairy 665 

" square cross 665, 668 

Basements for cattle G68, 669 

" arrangements, o'. 670 

Beef, short-horns for 550 

Birth, how to manage 751 

Birth, straining after 746 

Black quarter 749 

BInin, recipes for 772 

Bleeding • 745 

" to stop 787 

Blistering 742 

" recipes for 743 

Blisters, application of. 7j-o 

Bloody murrain 770 

" '• its malignant character 771 

Blue grass 677 

Body of the Devon 5^3 

Breed, how to 626 

Breeds, choice of. 626 

Breeding, general utility 627 

" inline 628 

" grades 629 

" " how to 630 

" up a herd 631 

'* grades from Texan s 619 

" and feeding cattle 625, 644 

" grades 567 

Breitenburg cattle 579 



INDEX — CATTLE. 



1071 



PAGE. 

Batcher's profit in short horns 553 

Buttermilk for calves 731 

Butter, how to sell 730 

" package 730 

" temperature to keep 730 

" receipts, Chicago 71G 

*' and cheese, Milwaukee 716 

" production of. 717 

" coloring 724 

" salting 72-4 

" washing vs. working 725 

" packages '25 

'' " to prepare 725 

Bulls, scale of points 572 

Buying to feed (3^7 

" breeding cattle 69" 

" milch cows 702 

" for milk ''02 

Calf, training the 646 

" haltering 646 

" unnatural positions of. 751 

" " " ♦' how to 

obviate 751 

Calves, castration of. 643 

" early feeding of. 642 

" treatment of 761 

Calving, drinks for cows after.. 789 

" paralysis after 756 

" " recipes for, 756, 757 

Carcass of ox, explanation of 699 

Care of milk 720 

Castration of calves 643 

Catarrli, recipes for 790 

Cat's tail grass 677 

Cattle, natural history of 519 

" domestication of. 519 

" ancient 519 

" teeth of. 520 

•' breeds of. 521 

" races of. 521 

" diseases of. 761, 776 

♦' heavy weights 684 

" short-horns, weight 685, 687 

" interests in Texas 620 

" prime parts in 700 

♦' how to buy 701 

" for feeding 697 

" special signs of disease in 749 

" ten years' produce in 631 

" training and working 645,656 

" " vs. breaking 645 

Characteristics of Devon cow 524 

" " Devons 528 

•' " Spanish cattle.. 615 

Cheap stables «•-... •.— • 660 



PAGE. 

Cheese making 726,730 

" production of. 717 

Cheshire cheese, to make 729 

Chiddar " 727 

" " to make 728 

Choking 775 

Choice of breeds 626 

Clysters 741 

" forms of 780 

" recipes for 780,781 

" stimulating 781 

" laxative 780 

" emollient 781 

" diuretic 781 

" anodyne 7ol 

" for worms 782 

Colic 761 

Croup 762 

Clovers of value 676 

" undesirable 676 

Clover rations for cattle 639 

Coloring butter 724 

Color of short-horns 560 

" "the Sussex 537 

Colors of Alderneys 567 

Common barn 662 

Common sense breeding 633 

"• " • in disease, value of 739 

Comparing values 639 

Comparison of milk products 606 

Contagious diseases 761, 776 

Contour of body of short horns. ...565, 556 

Corn rations for cattle 639 

Cough drinks, recipes for 783 

Coughs, remedy lor • 790 

Cows, Devon 524 

Cow, Hereford., 531 

Cows, gestation of. 634 

Cow, to prevent kicking 650 

', " sucking 652 

" " hooking 632 

Cow-Pox 776 

Cows, viciousness in 650 

" sucking 650 

Creamery, ex. of. 719 

Dairying, importance of.. 715 

" conditions necessary for 719 

Dairy, the 715, 732 

" draining for 719 

" sub-earih ventilation 720 

" importance of cleanliness 721 

" animal odor 721 

" temperature of. 722 

" short horns f>r 549, 550 

" cow. Tlie Alderney 575 



1072 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



PAGE. 
Dairy barn 685 

" milkers to buy 600 

Danish cattle 594 

Description of Ayrshire points 581 

Devon cattle 523 

" cows 524 

" cow, characteristics of. 524 

" working ox 526 

Devons, characteristics of and impor- 
tant points 528 

" limbs 528 

body of. 528 

" skin of. 529 

" hair of. 529 

" points of. 526, 527 

Diarrhea, recipes for 775, 790 

Digestion 710 

Diseases of cattle 785, 776 

" in general 736, 737 

" recognizing 746 

" breathing in 747 

" temperature in 748 

*' posture in 749 

" footandmouth 772 

" " temperature in 772 

" " how to know.. 772 

" of the feet 776 

Dissections 777 

Distinguishing marks of Su- sex cows 537 

Diuretic drink 785 

Doses, forms of 740 

Dr. Geo. May, On Dutch cattle 598 

Drinlv for cows after calving 789 

Duiham bull and cow, old style 538 

Dutch cattle, (see Holsteins) 589 

" " true history of. 591 

" " what history says 591 

" " facts as to 596 

" " races of 598 

Dutch Fresian cow 598 

Dysentery, recipes lor 775, 790 

Earl Spencer's prize ox 698 

Early feeding of calves 642 

" maturity, profits in 688 

Economy of large barns 667 

English feeding, cost of. 691 

Epidemic diseases 661, 672 

Eruptive " 787 

Escutciieon 702 

Escutcheons of best rows 701 

" and milk glands 697 

'• marks, value of 697 

" not always correct 710 

" in points 672 

" in Ayrsliires 5S2, 583 

Exercising common sense in breeding 633 



PAGE. 

Experiments in feeding 636 

Export butter anJ cheese 71 7 

Eye, cooling wash for 7^4 

" in disease 746 

Facts about Dutch cattle 59(5 

Farm barn ggo 

Farmer Thrifty's Cattle 658 

" Slack's shelter 6t;9 

Fastenings eco 

Fat bullocks, outline of. (99 

Feeding qualities, Holland cows 603 

" stock cattle 680 

" milch cows 681 

" for profit S^O 

" cost in England 690 

" in summer 691 

" experiments in 636 

" standard 637 

" rations for steers 638 

" stock, to buy 699 

" cheap corn 641 

" at milkingtime 649 

Eiring 743 

Flooding after calving 754 

" " " recipes for 7''54 

Fomentations, their operations 783 

" recipes for 783 

" • common 783 

" anodyne 783 

" relaxing 783 

Food vs. product 636 

Foods, relative value of. 640 

Form as an index to quality 629 

Foul meadow grass 679 

Fouls in Cattle 774 

Framed sheds ~ 659 

Frankish cow 598 

Friesian cattle 593 

" " characteristics 596 

Full feeding, advantages of. 693 

Fumigants 789 

" to make 789 

Fumigation 741 

Galloway cattle 613 

Gelding calves, care in 644 

General utility in breeding 627 

Gestation of cows 634 

" table relative to 635 

" diseases of 750, 758 

" accidents of. 750, 758 

" plural 749 

" multiple 7-50 

" what to do during 751 

Good care, v.ilue of..... 696 

" returns, how to get 691 

" feeding profitable 701 



I N DEX — CATTLE. 



1073 



PAGE. 

Grades, breeding of. 567 

Graduation of dose«? 739 

Grasses for stock 625 

Grease butter 715 

Gueiion's tiieory 702, 709 

Hair and condition 748 

" of tlie Devons 529 

Happy family 656 

Heat of iron 753 

Heavy weights of cattle 684 

" " ofshort-liorn catlle685, 686 

Herding, cattle, expense of. „ 621 

Heredity 710 

Herefords 529 

Hereford bull 530 

" fifty years ago 531 

" cow 531 

Herefords in America 532 

" as milkers 532 

Hereford ox 534 

" cow and calf. 533 

" of to-day 534 

History of Hnlstcin 588 

" short horns 541, 453 

H'Mstein cattle 589, 608 

" history of. 588 

" cow, esculcheon on 706 

Hol^teius, improvement in 650 

" for the present century- 589 

" in America -589 

" first imported 589 

" colors of 589 

" herd book 591 

" regular markets established.. 594 

" Dr. Geo. Mayor 598 

" Mr. Klipi^art's testimony 593 

" importation of \V. C. Clien- 

ery 593 

" as milkers 604 

" weights of 605 

" milk products of. 605 

'• herd records 606,607 

" cow 595 

Hollow Horn 775 

Horn-Ail 775 

Horns not certain indteations of age... 713 

Hoven 784 

" remedy for 784 

How to breed 627 

How to buy and how to sell 695, 715 

How to shelter .657, 674 

Improvements in Holstelus 589 

Indication of pain 589 

Infectious diseases 759, 776 

Infusions 782 

'• rule for making 782 

Injections 741 



PAGE. 

Inversion of womb 755 

Isolation in abf)rtlon 758 

Jersey bull, perfection » 571 

" scale of of points.... 572 

Jersey or Alderney cattle 564, 675 

" catile (see Alderney) 

Jerseys, milk mirrors of. ., 704 

Judging age by teeth 711 

Judging Alderney bulls 570 

Judging Alderneys by points 572,575 

Kerry cow 608 

Kerry's, a rare breed 608 

" description of 609 

" hardiness of 608 

Kicking cow, to manage 655 

Kind and careful treatment 681, 682 

Klippart, on Holsteiu cattle 599 

Last centurj'-, Ayrshires of 576 

Labor, languid , 756 

Languid labor 756 

Large presentation 752 

Lice on cattle. 774 

Limbs of the Devons 528 

Live weight, estimating 696 

Long horns 522 

Make beef young 688 

Making daily butter 722 

Malignant anthrax 762 

" catarrh .--0 

" " symptoms of 773 

" " recipes for •. y-j, 

Mammitis 760 

Measurements, estimating bj' 697 

Medicines and instruments 777^ 791 

" action of. 777 

" doses 777 

" when to administer 739 

" how to give 749 

Medical recipes for cattle 779 791 

Middle horns 522 

Milking qualities of Alderneys 557 

Milk mirror in points 579 

Milking qu-ilities of Holsteins 603 

JMilk products of Holsteins 604 

" " compared 606 

" " of Kerry cows qjo 

Milking, trainingto g^<^ 

Milking time, feeding at g^g 

650 

Milch cows 671 

Milk and beef cow, description of 701, 702 
" mirrors 702 

Milkers in all breeds 709 

Milk veins 711 



1074 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



PAGE. 
Milk, care of. 720 

" *' 723 

Milk Fever 7.58 

Model cow, perfection 470 

" dairy, descriptidii ot 704, 7()o 

" creamery, ground pl.ui of 719 

Murrain, preventives of 771 

" recipes for 770,772 

Mucilages, use of 784 

Natural history of Cattle 519 

'• temperature of stock 657 

" water in food 682 

Neck of shorthorns 555 

Nutritive qualities ofllolsteiiis 604 

Necessity of shelter 657, 674 

New industries, rushing .into 684 

North Devon cow 525 

North Holland cattle 600 

Octagonal barns 663 

Old style farm yard 658 

Opodeldoc, to make 791 

Orchard grass 678 

Oleomargnriiie 7j.5 

Outline of short horn cow 537 

Oxen training 652 

Packing butter 73I 

Paralysis, after calving 756 

Pasture, feed and water .675, 682 

Pasturage... 675 

Pasturing, lime for 679 

Patton.... 541 

Pedigree" of Comet 632 

" cow Florissa 632 

Perfection in cow 560, 564 

Pleuro pneumonia, virus of. 765 

" " period of incuba- 
tion 765 

" " '" of infection 755 

*' " disinfection of. 7^6 

** " contagious.......763, 769 

" " history of. 764 

" " malignant qualities 764 

" " contagiousness of 763 

" " definition of. 7G4 

Points of cows ..526, 5_7 

Poultices, their use 786 

" stimulating 786 

" to promote suppuration 7b7 

Polled cattle 611 

Points of short-horns 553 

" " " described 550 

Prolonged labor 752 

Presentation large 750 

Prime parts in cattle 700 



PAGE. 

Profits from breeding Tcxin grades... 619 

" on Texan cattle 623 

" of e.irly mnturity 747 

" of good feeding 701 

Pulsein disease 746 

" of animiils 746 

Puritj"-, value of. 567 

Quality, form as an index to 629 

Quarterale 759 

Races of Dutch cattle 598 

nations for milch cows 637 

Raising cream, various methods 722 

" " Dutch method 722 

" " Holstein method 722 

" " Devonshire '• 722 

" ". Gussander " 722 

Raising calves, experimiiit- in 731 

" young cattle 642 

Relative value of difFereiit foods 640 

Red top 638 

Respiration 711 

Retention of afterbirth 764 

" " " . reci[)is for 755 

Rementfor cheese 729 

Ripe cattle for profit 701 

Roughshed 658 

Rowels 744 

Rule for measuring cattle..' 697 

Salting Butter 624 

Salt for butler 626 

" impurities ill 626 

Scale of points, shorl-horn hulls. ..561, .562 
" " " " cows. ...562, 564 

" " " cows and heiters.... 568, 571) 

" " " Jersey bull 572 

Selection in hreedmg 632 

" of bulls for Ti'xas 621 

" "' calves for Texas 622 

Setons 744 

" recipes for 744 

Shelter, how to 657, 674 

" whereto plant ....67} 

Shallow pans 721 

Short-horns, cows, scale of points, 562, 564 

Short-horns, the back 5'"7 

" " loin 5.57 

" "• limb 5-57 

« •' skin 5.57 

« " hair 5.59 

" " handling.... 55S 

«♦ " color 530 

" perfection in 560, 561 

♦* bulls 561, 5;iJi 

** scale of points 561, 56v,. 



INDEX — CATTLE. 



lOT-v 



PAGE. 

Short horn proper 539 

" history of 5o9, 553 

" in America 541, 450 

" importation 1S15 541 

" " 1817 541,542 

" " 1820 and 1821... 542 

" " 1822 to 1830 542 

''' Ohio importation 1834 544 

•' " 1824 to 1828, 

1833 to 1840 544 
" " " 1840 to 1850, :45 

" " " 1850 to 1851, 546 

« " " 1858..., 549 

" in the West 549 

" for beef. 550,553 

" " dairj' 549,550 

" points of. 553 

", butcher's profit in .553 

" the head 553,554 

" the neck 555 

" body, contour of. 5")5, 556 

" proper shape for fattening, 556 

" the crops 557 

Shorthorn breeds 537,564 

Signs of disease in cattle 749 

Skim milk, A^alue of 732 

Skim cheese 715 

Skeleton of ox, explanation of 778 

" " and horse compared.... 779 

Skin diseases, wash for 784 

" and condition 748 

" of the Devons 529 

Slack shelter 669 

South Holland cattle 590, 591 

Spanisla cattle 615 

Spraying , 741 

Splenic fever 759 

Square barn 663 

Stimulating tincture 785 786 

Starting the herd 631 

Stables in basement 664 

Stock cattle, feeding 670 

" feeding 670 

'' well andill kept 681 

Steaming 641 

" application 641 

" nose bag for 641 

Straining after biith 756 

Summer feeding 691 

" slielter 672 

Sussex cattle, distinguishing marks of 537 

" cow 537 

" the color ol 537 

Swiss cow 598 

Styptics, valuable 786 

68 



PAGE. 

Table on gestation 53-, 

Taints from impurities in milk 72 . 

Teeth of c:itll(> 520 

Teeth, judging age by 713, 714 

Temperature of dairj' 722 

" cheese vat 730 

Texas cattle 615, 624 

" " interests in g20 

" " acclimating improved bulls 

'" 621 

" " selection of calves for 622 

" fever 769 

" " how to know it 769 

" '• recipes for 77Q 

" " whattodo 770 

Texans, feeding in stable 616 

" improved blood 619 

Ten years produce in cattle- 631 

The young calf. 639 

The touch, value of. 700 

Thermometrical tests for heat 748 

Timothy 677 

Time for pasturing 680 

Tongue in disease 745 

Training and working caitle 645, 656 

" vs. breaking 64") 

" the calf. 646 

" to milk 648 

" oxen 652 

" stock young 654 

Treatment of Calves 761 

True grasses 677 

True history of Holland cattle 591 

Twist, veins of 711 

Twisted suture 745 

Udder, veins of. 711, 712 

Ulceration of the mouth 790 

" recipes for 790 

Unnatural presentation 752 

" positions of calf. 752 

Urus 519 

Usefulness of Ayrshires 582 

Value of purity 567 

Values, comparison of 639 

Valuable clovers 676 

Value of good care 69> 

" milk mirrors 703 

Vapors 741 

Veins of twist and udder, infallible 

marks 712 

Veterinary surgery, importance of.. ... 736 

" pretenders 736 

Virus, how carried 761 

Wash for eruption 784 



1076 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



PAGE. 

Washes '. .'. 784 

Waste products, utilizing 731 

Watering 6HU 

Weights of Holsteius 604 

• " Texas cattle 619 

Weight, to estimate 696 

Weighing cattle 700 

Well and ill kept stock 683 

What history says— Holland cattle 590 

What to plant 674 

Where to plant shelter 581 

Where good beef lies 699 

Womb, iaversion of 655 

" " to prevent 655 



PAGE. 

VVind-breaks q^^ 

Wounds, sewing 744 

" tincture for 738 

W. Friesland cattle 600 

Yields of milk, Dutch catUc 601 

" " " Ayrshires 601 

"■ " " Touderu cows 601 

■' " " Breitenburg cow.- 603 

" " " Holland cows 603 

" " " H Jsteins 605 

Young calf. 642 

" stock to train 654 

" beef 687 



SHEEI*. 



PAGE. 

Age for breeding sheep 814 

American merinos 808 

" " origin of. 809 

Apoplexy 822 

Barbary sheep 795 

Biflex canal, inflammation of. 835 

Black-faced Highland sheep 801 

Border Leicester 797 

Castrating lambs 820 

" rams 820 

Cheviot sheep 803 

Colic 837 

Cotswold sheep 798 

" " value of. 798 

" " South 800 

" lambs 800 

Coupling sheep ^14 

Diseases of sheep 821, 837 

" " head and brain 826 

" " urinary organs 833 

" " generative organs 833 

Division of wool 812 

" " " illustration 812 

Docking lambs 815 

Dorset sheep 805 

Dosing sheep 817 

Epilepsy 830 

Fall pasturing of sheep 817 

" feeding of sheep 817 

Fine wooled sheep — 808 

Foot rot S33 

" " treatment 834 

Fouls in the feet 834 

Generative organs, diseases 833 

Gravel 834 



PAGE. 

Grubs In the head 83J 

'' " " '* to prevent 839 

" extrraction 839 

Hampshire Downs 806 

Hydrophobia 831 

Hydatids on the brain 831 

Inflammation of the eyes 828 

" " " brain 830 

" symptoms 830 

Intestinal worms 836 

Lambing room 820 

Lambs, castration 821 

Leicester sheep 802 

Lincoln sheep ~ 802 

Liver fluke 836 

Lockjaw, treatment 830 

Long wooled sheep 796 

" " " flocking 802 

Lung worms 835 

" " treatment 835 

Maggoty sheep ." 835 

" " recipes ''35 

Management of lambs 823 

Merinos, American 808 

" fleeces 808 

" the head .09 

" the body 810 

" characteristics 809,811 

" for profit 810, 811 

Middle woohd sheep 803 

New Leicester sheep 797 

" Oxfordshire sheep 802 

Nursery for lambs 825 

Oxford Downs 807 



INDEX. 



107; 



PAGE. 

Palsy 830 

" recipes 830 

Parasites on sheep 831 

Pasturing sheep 816 

Punjaub sheep 795 

Rabies 8;U 

Rams at coupling time 815 

" as teaser? 815 

" management 815 

•' castration 821 

Rocky Mountain sheep 752 

Roots for sheep 822 

Scab 832 

" symptoms 832 

" to cure 833 

" recipes for 832, 833 

Sheep, the head ^23, 82-t 

" " trunk- 824 

" " fore-leg 824 

" " hind-leg 824 

" " important points of. 824 

" " analysis 824,825 

" " skull of, explained 825 

" " importanceofheadof, 825, 826 

" " teeth 826 

" " teeth indicating age 827 

" " swelled head in 827 

" " " " recipes for 827 
" " distemper 828 



PAG'-. 

Sheep distemper recipes for 828 

Sheep husbandry .793, 8:.0 

" varieties 793 

" importance of 793 

" points of, explained 791 

Shropshire Downs 8C6 

Sheep breeding 813, 8:.l 

'• management of 813, 821 

barns .'818 

" trough S18 

Sheep, diseases of 821, 837 

Skeleton of sheep, description ot 824 

Special Winter feeding of sheep 819 

Training rams SIG 

Travel sore 834 

The rot in sheep 836, 837 

Urinary organs, diseases of. 833 

Varieties of sheep -qo 

Vegetable poisoning t..,o 

" " recipes for 8^8 

Watering sheep gjy 

Weaning sheep g^j 

White-faced Highland sheep §04 

Winter management of sheep 821 

Worms, intestinal gg^j 

" l«»g 835 

" liver-fluke 836 

" the rot g37 



SAVINE. 



Age of swine, to tell 843 

American breed 853,869 

" bred swine 853,869 

Antiquity of the hog 841 

Anthrax, malignant 887 

Arkansas tooth-pick 874 

Berkshircs 846 

" characteristics of. 846,847 

Breeds of American Swine 853,859 

" recapitulation of. 858 

Breeding and management of swine, 

7&4 867 

" age of swine 862 

Care of sow? 863 

Catarrh in head 88 1 

Charbon 887 

Contagious pneumo - < iilcritis with 

malignant sore throat 885, 886 



Contagious diseases, summary of. 892 

Contagious pneumo - enteritis with 
malignant sore throat, recipes for, 

885, ^86 

CaleshiU swine 84 » 

Catarrh, n?alignant, epizootic 881 

" •' " recipes for 882, 883 

Chinese hog .... 844 

China boar 844 

" sow 845 

Chinese swine and cros.-es 

Characteristica of Berkshire's 846 

" Neapoliian hogs 7^1 

" Essex swine 84J 

'• Poland-China. 855 

" fixing and holding... 761 

Chester white? 855, 856 

" " west 8.t. 



i078 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



PAGE. 

Cheshires 867 

" improved , 858 

Clean care necessary 867 

Contagious and malignant diseases SSI 

'• pneumonia entenli.-...8S4, 887 

" " origin of... .884, 885 

" " erysipelatous lorni sSo 

Cross— barn for swine 772 

Cumberland swine 850 

Diarrhea 891 

" recipe lor 892 

Difficulty in administering 880 

Diseases of swine 879, 892 

*' the skin 889 

English breeds goo 

Essex swine 848 

" origniof. 848 

Farrowing of swine SUS 

Feeding and slielter 868, 878 

" in summer 869 

" grain 870 

" south 870 

" in confinement 871 

Gestation of swine 863 

Good vs. food 868 

Good nursing important 880 

Grain feeding 870 

Hog, origin of. b41, 842 

" antiquity of. 841 

" introduction into Ameriea 842 

" " " Florida 842 

" " " Nova Scotia.... 842 

" " N. Foundland, 842 

" " " Canada 842 

'• " " Virginia 842 

" explanation of skeleton of. 879 

" light vs heavy 875 

Hospital breed 860, 838 

Hog cholera, intestinal 883, 884 

*' " " causes b84 

" " " prevention S85 

Hog barns 871,873 

Illustration of skeleton 879 

Importanceof swine 843 

hnproved breeds of swine 844 

" Berkshire 846 

Suffolks 850, S51 

" Middlesex 850,8.51 

'• Cheshii-e S58 

Importance of swine 860 

" " selection 862 

" " good nursing 880 

intestinal hog-cholera 883, 884 

" *' *' causes 883 

" " " prevention 885 

India hog 844 



PAGE. 

Inflammatory diseases 888 892 

Jersey reds 857 

Jeff'erson County hogs 859 

Large Lancashire, white 853 

Lancashire hog- 851,855 

middle breed 853 

Lard worm 890 

Light vs heavy hogs 875 

*' hogs profitable 875 

Lights, ri.>ing of. 889 

Lioe 891 

Magie hogs 859 

Malignant and contagious diseasos..881, 888 

" epizootic catarrh 881 

" " symptoms 882 

" " recipes for 882,883 

" authrax 887 

Mange 892 

Management of swine 865 

Markings of Berkshires 847 

Mast as food 870 

Medicme, difficulty in administering... 878 

Measles 889 

Middle-bred Yorkshires 850 

•' Lancashire 852 

Morgan county hogs 859 

Neapolitan hogs 847 

" " imported to U. States 851 

hog 844 

Origin of Essex swine 849 

"■ Foland-Cliina g^^ 

" Chester Wliile g^g 

Points of Sufl'olk swine- 851 

Poland-China 854 

Pneumo-euteritis 884, 887 

" " origin of. 884,885 

" " erysipelatous form... 885 
*' " vs. authrax, distinc- 
tion between 887 

Pneumonia 889 

Quinsy 888 

Recapitulation of breeds 858, 859 

Roots for swine 869 

Rising of thr lights 889 

Scab 891 

" recipes for 891 

Selection, importanceof. 862 

Short-faced Lancashire 851, 852 

Shelter and feeding 868. 878 

Siamese hog, and Berkshire 846 

Skeleton of hog 879 

Small Yorkshires 850 

St)leiiic lever in swine 8S6 

Strangles 887 

'• recipe for 887 



INDEX— «WIXE AND POULTRY. 



1079 



PAGE. 

SuflFolks 850 

" orio;iii ot 850 

" Prince A. berts 851 

" points 851 

Summer feeding 858 

Siuumary of necessary care 867 

" care of swine 874 

" contagious diseases 892 

Swine, histoiy, breeds and cliaracter- 

teristics 741, 892 

" ageof, totelL 743 

'• breeding in America 743 

" in Iowa 744 

" in Oliie ~ 744 

^ *• in Illinois 744 

" improved breeds of. 744 

'' breeding age of 862 

management of 865 

" cleanliness necessary 866 

Teeth of the hog 842 

Trichina Spirali.> 890 

Weaning...., 863 

Yorlishire swine 849, 850 

POULTRY. 

African geese 967 

American wild turkey 898 

Analysis of wing plumage 936, 938 

Anatomy of the hen 974 

Apoplexy 974, 975 

Asiatic breeds 917, 924 

Aylesbury ducks 956 

Bantams, origin of. 910 

931, 933 

Seabright 931 

B»rn-yard fowls, varieties of. 933 

Bi'.st breeds for market 941 

lilack Dorking 905 

" Ilamburgs 908 

" East India duck 959 

" rot 976 

" " recipe for 977 

Polton Gray 906 

Brahma fowls 921, 924 

Crida " 925 

Brown-breasted red game 927 

Breeding of poultry 934, 941 

Breeders, Glossary of terms used 919, 970 

" to type 940 

" grades 941 

Bronze gray Turkey 950 

" black " 951 

Buff Cochins 919 

Call ducks 957 

Canada wild goose 967 



PAGE. 

Care in packing fowls 945 

Cayuga black ducks 958 

Chittagong 9iy 

Cholera 97(5 

Common turkey 949 

Creve Coeurs 915 

Crested turkey 94^ 

Crop bound 977 

Cioup 977 

Dark Brahma 9^2 

Derby gnnio 928 

Divisions of domestic poultry 902 

Disparity in sexes 940 

Di.sea-es of fowls 973, 978 

Diphtheria 977 

Uomestic fowls, origin of. 89), 912 

" poultrj', how divided 912 

Dorking fowls 9U4, 906 

" white 903 

" silver gray 904 

" gray 9)5 

" fawn-colored 905 

Dominique fowls 906, 907 

Doine,~tic turkey, varieties of 948, 949 

Dressing fowls 944 

Duok-wing game 9_9, 9.0 

Ducks, Kouen 954, 955 

" Aylesburj' 956 

" gray call 957 

" call 957 

white 957 

" Cayuga black 958 

" summary of 9:9, 961 

Earl Derby game 928, 929 

Egg-producing fowls 944 

Egg bound 975 

Embden, or Bremen geese 962 

English turkey 949 

Fawn-colored Dorking 905 

Fancier's glossary of.terms 969, 970 

Fancy duck? 959 

Fowls, management of. 942, 946 

" the house 943 

proper food fur 943 

«•' egg producers... 944 

" for market 944 

" to fatten 944 

" to kill 944 

' to dress 944 

" packing for market 945 

French fowls 91,3, 916 

Frizzled " 924 

Game fowls 931 

" bantams , 931 

Gapes, remedy for 976 

Geese, sub-varieties of. 99S 



1080 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



PAGE. 

Greorgia game 931 

Ueese '. 962, 968 

" Embden 962 

" Bremen 962 

" Toulouse 963 

" Hong Kong 964 

" white Chinese 966 

" African 967 

''- Canada wild 967 

" management of. 968 

G Jden-penciled ILimburg 910 

Ooing into bushiess 942 

Glo-isaiy of terms used by lanciers, 

969, 970 

Gray Dorking 904 

Gray call dueks 957 

Guinea fowl, where nalive.. 898 

Gueldar fowls 925 

Guinea fowl 950,951 

" " number of eggs laid 950 

" wild 950 

^' " white 951 

" " spotted 951 

Hamburg fowls 908 

Hen, anatomy of. 974 

Honduras turkey 950 

Hong-Kong geese 964 

Houdaus 914 

Ideal shape 939 

Inflammation of egg passage 975 

" " " recipe for 975 

Jiipanese Bantams 932 

Killing fowls 944 

Lafleche fowls 915 

Large Asiatic breeds 917, 924 

Laying soft eggs 977 

Leghorns 910 

Leg bone of lien 974 

Lice 978 

Light Brahma 924 

Management of fowls S66, 946 

" geese 948 

Marketing fowls 945 

Mating 941 

Mexican wild turkey 896 

" turkey 951 

Ocelatcd turkey 950 

Origin of domestic fowls 895, 902 

Ostrich fowls 908 

Packing for market 945 

Partridge Cochin 921 

Peacock 9^^ 



PAGE. 

Penciled Hamburgs gyg 

I*ip 977 

Plymouth Kock fowls 907 

Points of poultry, expalanllon of.. 927 

" the head " ...935, 986 

" fowls " ..9.36, 939 

Poultry, history and management 895, 978 

" " 895, 90-! 

« wild types 898, 902 

" the plumage 937, 938 

" diseases of. 973, 978 

Rheumatism 977 

liouen ducks 954, 955 

Roups 975 

" recipe for 97^ 

Seabright Bantams 931 

Sexes, disparity in 940 

Silky fowls 919 

Silver-gray Dorking 904 

" penciled Hamburgs 909 

Sonnerat fowls 900 

South American fowls 901 

Spanish fowls 942, 943 

Spotted Guinea fowl 953 

Standard white Leghorns 943 

Summary of ducks 939, 961 

Sub-varieties of geese 898 

Toulouse geese 963 

Turkeys 951, 952 

" domestic varieties of. 948, 949 

" time of hatching egg« 948 

" common 949 

" crested 948 

" English 949 

" bronze gray 949 

" Honduras 950 

" Ocelates 950 

*• Mexican 951 

" bronze 951 

" " black 951 

Varieties of domes'ic turkeys 948, 959 

" barn-yard fowls 903, 933 

Water fowl—ducks 951, 954 

a u _geese 962,968 

White Dorking o.. 903 

" Leghorn o.. 910 

" Cochins 921 

" Georgia games 930 

" guinea fowl.... 953 

" ducks 957 

" China geese 966 

Wild .species of domestic fowl 900 

" goose 967 

Wing plumage, analysis of. 936, 938 



INDEX. 



1081 



BEES. 



PAGE. 

Bee Vails 988 Products of Bees . 



PA<J,E. 

... 982 



Coinb 980 ! Queen Bees 980, 981, 981, 990, 991 

Drones 980 Races of Bees 984 

Esgs and Brood 981 Smoking Bees ,.. 987 

Extractors of Wax and of Honey 983 } Stages of Bee Life 9S0 

Starting Bee-culture 985 



History of Bees 979 

Hives 985, 986 

Honey Extractor 983 

Location of Hives 988, 989 

Management 982, 989 

Natural History of Bees 979 



Swarming 990 

Taking the Honey 991 

Transferring Bees 986 

Treatment of Honey , . . . . 692 

Wax Extractor. . . 083 

Wintering &92 

Working Bees 980 



DOGS 



Asthma in Dogs 1025 

Bronchitis in Dogs 1025 

Barbet, the Hll5 

Breeds of Dogs 997 

Bull Dog 1009 

Bloodhound, the 1011 

Beagle, the 1U13 

Breeding 1016 

" choice of sire and dam 1016 

" age 1016 

" time of year 1016 

" management hil7 

Cancer in Dogs 10 !4 

Coach Dog, the 1014 

Canker of the ear 1032 

Cofnmon cold in Dogs 1025 

Chorea or jerks 1033 

Consumption in Dogs lOiiO 

Diseases of Dogs 1025 



Foxhound, the 1011 

Greyhound, the 1013 

Hydrophobia 1035 

" the Goodman cure for. 1< 36 
" instances of cure 1037 

Influenza in Dogs 1026 

Inflammation of the stomach 1030 

liver .1031 

" " bowels 1031 

Jerks, or choi-ea 1033 



Lice on Dogs 



.1033 



Mount St. Bernard Dogs 1010 

Mastiff 10(9 

Newfoundland Dog . . . . ' 1( 07 

Pointer, the 10(i4 

Poodle, the 1013 



Dalmatian, the lol4 pigurisy in Dogs 1026 

Dropper, the 1003 7^„eumonia in Do-s 1026 

Dingo of Australia 993 p„erperal fits 1034 

Distemper in Dogs 1028 Protracted labor 1035 



Fits .1033 

Fleas on Dogs 1033 



Rabies or hydroi)liobia 1035 

Rheumatic fever in Dogs 1027 



1082 



ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



Rickets or large joints 



PAGE. 

...1034 



siieepDoor 1013 

Setter, tlie Eiiglisli 999 

" '' Lavanick 999 

" Graliam and Corbet ICOO 

" " Irisli 1001 

" " Black Tan or Gordon 1002 

'' Native 1003 

Spaniel 1006 

the Hunting 1006 

" " Clumber 1007 

" " Sussex 1007 

" Water 1007 

Sprains 1035 

Terrier, the English 1014 



PAGE. 

Terrier, tlie Scotch ]014 

" " Daudie Dinmont 101-5 

Training of Pointers and Setters 1019 

'■'■ "• Spaniels 1022 

" "■ Hounds 1023 

'• '• Vermin Dogs 1023 

" " from Gun-shyness 1023 

Tumors in Dogs . 1034 

Tender feet 1035 

Usefulness of the Dog 998 

Whelping 1017 

Whelps, care of 1019 

Weaning and feeding 1019 

Worms in dogs • 1033 



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